PART I Chapter 6

Ashanta woke with a start. Once again, she saw, she had overslept for the sunlight was streaming through her window. I've had the dream again, she realized. But it was so much more vivid this time, almost as though it weren't a dream at all, but something that was actually happening. Her body responded almost immediately at the memory, and she blushed. It was only a dream, she reminded herself, if rather a real feeling one. She reached for the cord, and summoned Thara.

Thara burst into her room, "Highness!" she gasped, all out of breath. "The dragon was seen again, but this time it was not by a child, but by the gatekeeper himself, risen early because of the market this morning. Brandit claims to have seen a giant flying lizard, bronze and gold, outlined against the rising sun."

Ashanta quelled the rising feeling of concern, that was twice that she had dreamt of the dragon, and twice now that the dragon had been spotted. And while the report of a small child might be discounted, one could hardly ignore the fact that Brandit, one of the most level-headed and reliable of the men-at-arms, had apparently seen it as well. And if the dragon was real? What could that mean about her dream?

"Once I am dressed you can ask Misha to bring up luncheon for four," she ordered Thara, "and send Brandit to my apartment along with Sharra and Lingqui. Brandit can, I trust, find another to take his place at the gate for an hour."

Brandit was the first to arrive at the apartment, "Highness," he murmured, bowing low before her.

"Welcome, Brandit," Ashanta greeted him, "I have been told that you have a story to tell, about a dragon that you have seen. I wish to hear your story, but there are others that I wish to hear it as well. Sharra and Lingqui will join us for luncheon, and perhaps you can tell us all the story after that."

Brandit inclined his head in agreement, and they sat down to await the arrival of the others. Sharra and Lingqui arrived together, each of them out of breath and panting. "We have come, Highness," they said together.

"Good," replied Ashanta, "Now that we are all here, let us eat, for the food will not improve with waiting. Then, I believe that Brandit has a story to tell us, and he should go first so that he might go back to his post at the gate. But first, the luncheon."

After the meal was finished, Ashanta turned to Brandit, "Thara tells me that you have seen the dragon too, and so we have a witness who is not a small child. Please tell us what you have seen."

"Well, um," Brandit began, "you see, well… I'm not entirely sure how to tell this, Highness."

"Just tell us the story, as you would tell it to a child," suggested Sharra. "If we have questions, we will hold them until the end, when you have finished so as not to break the thread of your story."

Brandit began again. "This morning I awoke early. Wednesdays the market in the village is especially fine, and my wife likes to go out early so that she can do her marketing before the stalls are picked over. So I got up to go and unlock the gates and let her out of the castle. As I was walking out of our room, along the end of the castle walls, I noticed that the light seemed odd for so early in the morning. Somehow more golden, as if I were seeing the world through a piece of yellow cloth, or a reflected in a fall pond, with the trees all yellow around it. I looked up to see if something strange was happening with the sky. Sometimes the light seems odd just before a bad storm, you know, and it's better to be aware of such things.

"At first I could see nothing. The sky was the deep blue of early morning, tinged with the hints of gold from the sunrise. Certainly there was no suggestion that there might be a storm in the air. And then, erupting from the castle tower, I saw it. A giant flying creature, so long that I believe that he must have stretched from one end of the courtyard to the other, and shining like burnished bronze. I was terrified of it, of course, and immediately hid within the small gatekeeper's chamber adjacent to the gate.

"From its window, I saw the beast circle the castle tower thrice, as though he were laying claim on it, before he flew off again into the sunrise." Brandit paused, "Do you believe me, Highness?"

Ashanta nodded. "I think that we must believe you, for your story of this morning correlates perfectly with that of the child who claimed to have seen it yesterday. Now, you may go back to your post, and I will think about what should be done."

Bowing low, Brandit left. Ashanta turned to the others. "You have heard Brandit's story, and the story of the child. Now, hear mine.

"Last night, though I had slept until midday, I fell asleep very early. I know not how I ended up in my bed, for I fell asleep before Thara could come in to help me to undress, and I do not believe that she is strong enough to lift me herself. Be that as it may, I fell asleep very early and slept soundly, until once again, I dreamt that the dragon had entered my chamber. Again he bade me to ride on his back, and I did so happily, remembering the pleasure that his previous visit had brought. He flew out through the window with me on his back, and we returned again to the mountaintop where we had gone on the previous night. Again, he asked that I disrobe, and I did so willingly, knowing what was to come, and craving it with all of my being. When I awoke, it was again midday, and the sunlight was streaming through my windows.

"Still, I do not know what it means, only that the dream was both very real and very wonderful, and that I find myself wishing for its return, though feeling confused and guilty at the same time." She looked expectantly at Lingqui and Sharra. "Have you, who have, in the king's absence, become my trusted advisors, any advice for me?"

Lingqui leaned forward, "The dragon has been seen twice now circling the castle tower. Both times at sunup, and on neither occasion has he offered any harm to the castle or to the people who live in it. I believe that he must be the Dragon King, come back, and that since you have such a close emotional tie to his descendant, you are most prone to the dreams that he is sending. I wonder whether King Rafe is also having dreams of the dragon, but we have no way of asking him."

"I see only one problem with your theory," said Sharra, "and it is this. It has been said that the Dragon King would return when the need of the kingdom was the greatest, and it seems to me that our need has been greater at many times in the past. We have been attacked by foreign armies, suffered crippling droughts and famines, been brought low by pestilence of every kind, and the Dragon King did not return. Why then should he return now? The harvests have been plentiful and though there has been much posturing with the Kreign across the border, we are not yet at war with them. So why then return now? Surely this cannot be our time of greatest need!"

Ashanta thought for a moment, "So we seem to agree that the dragon is real, as he has been seen on two occasions and by two people, and that he does not seem to mean harm to the people of the castle. That fear we can, I think, set to the side. Who then, is he? Is he the Dragon King, come back to rescue his people from the worst threat to their existence? Or is he some other dragon, flown in from some distant land out of the pages of our mythology? Is he helpful, or harmful, or merely neutral? How I wish that we could speak with him and ask his intent!"

Sharra looked startled, "Speak with a dragon? Lingqui, has such a thing ever been done?"

"I do not know," Lingqui replied. "Surely I had not heard of it, but then, dragons have always teetered on the border between truth and mythology. Perhaps there is something in the library, I can search if Highness wishes."

Ashanta shook her head, "I do not believe that will be helpful. Though it may have been done, and may be recorded, it will take many hours and days and weeks to find the reference. I do not believe that we have so much time, so we must decide on our own what to do, without the advice of our forefathers. On the last two mornings, the dragon has been seen circling the castle tower at sunrise. I suggest to you that the three of us must go up to the castle tower tomorrow morning, before the sun rises, and prepare to speak with the creature."

"But Highness," Sharra protested, "what if he attacks us? We know not whether he is friend or foe, and I do not wish to die in a flood of dragon fire."

"If he is foe, then he will attack the castle, given time, and we will die by dragon fire regardless. But if he is friend, then mayhap we can learn from him. In any case, we must try, I think," finished Ashanta.

Lingqui nodded his assent. "I believe that Ashanta is right," he said slowly, "though there may be danger. Perhaps we should make arrangements for what will happen were the dragon to attack us."

"But what kind of arrangements?" demanded Sharra. "He could attack us only, and burn us to a crisp. He could abduct us, or some of us, and fly off with us to his distant lair where he would slowly barbeque us using his fire breath. He could, insulted, attack the entire castle, and all of the surrounding fields. In each case, the proper arrangements would be different, and the wrong arrangement would be useless, or even harmful."

"I think that there is no point in preparing for an attack on the castle and surrounding fields," hazarded Ashanta. "He has not attacked the castle yet, so I see no reason to think that he might do so now. And we have no way of defending ourselves against dragon attack, short of having all of the people in surrounding area leave and go elsewhere. And where would they go? There is no other place within a day's walk that could house so many."

"But what if you should be taken or killed," interjected Sharra. "While King Rafe is away, you are the visible leader of the people, though there are others making the decisions. Should something happen to you, our land would fall into disarray, even as King Rafe is bargaining with our allies."

"Then we must make arrangements for who will rule should something happen to me," agreed Ashanta. "So we must choose another to let in on our secret. One with the wisdom to govern, and whom the people will trust." She thought for a while. "I believe that Sharra would be the best choice. The people trust her, for she is wise, and kind. And she would govern well until King Rafe returns. I can think of no one better suited to the task."

"But Highness," Sharra protested, "I want to have the opportunity to speak with the dragon as well. Surely there is someone else who would serve in my stead."

"Highness is right," Lingqui interjected. "You are the best person to take over the temporary governance of the kingdom should something happen to her. The people think me a fool, so they would trust nothing that I say. And who else has the wisdom to rule? Not Firth, whom they might follow, but it would be to their deaths. Not Brandit, who would lead them wisely, but they would not have the wisdom to trust him. Not the high priest, who is too wrapped up in his sacrifices to rule. No, you are the best, indeed the only, choice for ruler."

Sharra inclined her head, "If this is your wish, Highness, I will obey. But let me at least help to prepare for the visit."