Dragon & Dreamer | ONC 2023 honourable mention

11 - Communication

Noak angled her left wing and let the gentle breeze carry her south over the camps of the northern armies. The fires dotting the plain below allowed her to estimate how many warriors had assembled. Each night, she spotted more fires, and each night, they extended farther south.

Like Ranoz, Noak didn't enjoy meddling in human affairs. But the dragon council had agreed the pending war affected the creatures of the night. Not in the remote mountain lands of Eshte and Eshekir, where the hrankaedí don and ijenkaedí sheltered—the dark dragons and the great darknesses. But the kaedin and xylin populated the lower Haon plains, where waterlogged soil and lush meadows abounded. They wouldn't survive where the earth was burnt or drenched in blood and trampled by thousands of hooves and feet in battle.

The dragon blew a puff of hot air through her nostrils. Perhaps she should have followed the eldest's advice and left the things to develop without interfering. Her plan had sounded great when she made it. She suggested leading the armies astray and chasing them back into their respective lands. Or, if this didn't work, let them clash in a single fierce battle and end the war before it could set the entire land aflame. Even grumpy Ranoz had agreed it might work and sent a few younger dragons with her. The kaedin had helped to gather a detailed picture of where the armies stood.

Noak snorted. All the knowledge didn't help if she couldn't influence the war leaders' decisions. A wide loop southwards showed her where the king of Kelèn gathered his troops to stop the advance of the northerners. The royal army was better organised, but counted fewer soldiers. And they seemed oblivious they were marching into a trap. Time was running out. If Noak wanted to do something, she had to do it fast. She was about to turn north again when she perceived a mental call of another dragon close by.

She answered by projecting her own thought into the darkness. "I'm here."

Moments later, Salik adapted his flight path to hers. "Noak." The young hrankae blinked and synchronised his wingbeats. "A group of xylin and kaedin gathered by the standing stone. I believe they want to speak with you."

Noak suppressed a sigh. She still struggled to understand the little darknesses, and communication with the light spheres was cryptic. "Do you know why?"

"I find them hard to understand. They were agitated, so I'm sure there must be something important afoot."

Salik was reliable, and he was correct in assuming she understood the creatures better than most dragons did. She banked, and a few energetic wing beats carried her eastwards. With Salik struggling to keep up, they dived for the bare hilltop on the western plains of Linar Noak had chosen as a meeting place. The limestone formation offered an unobstructed view of the plains. As a plus, a cave system allowed the dragons to hide during daylight hours. Of the night creatures, only the xylin didn't mind the sun. This made them important informants—although Noak wished they were easier to understand.

Her sharp eyes made out the soft light of the tiny spheres long before they reached the exposed summit of the hill. The xylin had assembled at the ancient standing stone marking the grave of a long-dead human king. The dragons landed with a soft thud beside the monument and folded their wings. Both xylin and kaedin engulfed them with a flurry of thought pictures.

Almost overwhelmed by the mismatching images, Noak cleared her throat. "My greetings, xylin, kaedin. You called?"

As usual, it took a while until the little creatures calmed down and a single sphere spoke. "Xylin carry information for hrankae."

The voice of the xyl sounded like a tiny bell, but Noak could hear the words in her mind. "I hear you, little light."

"Xylin find a daughter of dawn."

Noak glanced at Salik, who seemed even more confused than her. Why would the creatures fuss over a human? "That's nice. Was she lost?"

"Captured."

The kaedin underlined the words with a projection of sharp terror, and affected by their violent pictures, Noak released a puff of black smoke. Still, she couldn't grasp why this human mattered to the creatures of the darkness. The war affected many innocent creatures, animals, magical creatures, and humans.

The xyl bobbed to regain her attention. "Kae freed daughter of dawn."

Noak frowned. "I gather you care for this person. Who is this daughter of the dawn?"

"Saviour of xyl. Friend of xylin."

Salik slid closer. "A daughter of the dawn is a Tanna woman, right?"

Noak nodded. To her, humans were human, whatever their tribe. She suspected this Tanna must have befriended the xylin somehow. This was remarkable, but not unheard of. "Where is the woman now?"

"Xylin lead daughter of dawn upriver." The spheres danced a short distance to the south.

The king's men camped in the south. The woman might be safe with them, but then she might not. Humans were renowned for their cruelty, all of them. But this couldn't be Noak's concern. Or should it? "Why do you believe this woman is important?"

"Daughter of dawn carries many dreams."

Frustrated, Noak suppressed a fiery outburst. It was impossible to follow the logic of the light spheres. If they thought the human was crucial, then she probably was. But this conversation was laced with uncertainty. "I can't see how this will help us."

The spheres danced around each other in a flurry of colours and jingles before they settled down again to let the single voice explain. "Xylin guide daughter of dawn to dragon warrior."

The two dragons exchanged an exasperated glance. "Who is the dragon warrior?"

"Dragon warrior dreams of hrankae."

Noak blinked her pale golden eyes. The xylin and the kaedin seemed to know more about this situation than she could imagine. If they could read human dreams, they might be equipped to deal with human affairs, too. Desperate to find a better way of communication, the hrankae closed her eyes, slipped into her shadow shape, and opened her mind.

At first, the mixed thought pictures of both xylin and kaedin were overwhelming, but then, Noak recognised a pattern.

(1047 words)