The Darkest Night Mud, dirt, and sand flew up from beneath Balanath as he ran. He was a wisp of quicksilver weaving between the stampeding wildebeests. Ka leaned forward in the saddle, nearly lying flat against Balanath’s body and concentrating on each twist and turn of the dragon. His feet pressed back in the stirrups to give him leverage as he matched his dragon’s movements. Ka glanced back at their pursuers. The rock dragons had little chance of catching a silver sand dragon on a flat unimpeded stretch of sand, but the cattle slowed Balanath considerably. The rock dragons weren’t even a quarter of the size of Balanath, and some people said they weren’t even true dragons, though they were unusually fast for such stubby little legs, but one misstep by Balanath and they would swarm like a pack of hyenas. Three days earlier in an exceptional display of cattle rustling, the rock dragons had managed to separate several hundred of the cattle under the cover of darkness. It had been a brilliant bit of theft that exposed a huge security hole in the Greens cattle drive. The rock dragons, often called the wild dragons of the desert, had further masked their theft by stampeding and scattering the main herd in every direction. It had taken nearly two days to find and bring the main herd back. The Marshal Dragons had then sent the dragon-rider teams out in every direction to search for the stolen cattle. The orders had been to patrol out to a distance of twenty-miles and return. Ka and Balanath had ignored their orders and gone nearly thirty-miles before they found the stolen cattle, but instead of returning to camp for help, they’d come up with a plan to stampede the herd and drive them back to the camp. The plan wasn’t going entirely as they’d intended – they had underestimated how many rock dragons were involved in the theft. Ka glanced to the top of the canyon. The rock dragons were rushing to block Balanath and the herd from escaping. The exceptionally fast silver dragon could outrun the much slower rock dragons, but Balanath was not only carrying Ka, but all of their supplies. In a moment of blinding clarity, Ka could see how the whole thing was going to play out. The rock dragons were going to make it to the end of the canyon and stop the stampede, trapping Balanath and him in the canyon. He had an idea, there was one way to make sure Balanath would make it out of the canyon. He slapped the side of Balanath’s neck. “Go over there to the canyon wall,” shouted Ka. Balanath did a spectacular left-right spin and turnabout around several of the wildebeests and three of the rock dragons. The rock dragons got confused by the silver blur changing directions and circling completely around them. The confused dragons slid to a stop and turned around to try and figure out where the silver dragon had gone, and promptly got trampled by the oncoming wildebeests behind them. Ka didn’t have time to grin at seeing the rock dragons disappear under the herd, he was too busy matching Balanath’s movements to keep from off-balancing him. As Balanath neared the wall of the canyon, Ka shouted for him to stop, and if Ka hadn’t had his feet locked in the stirrups, he would have flipped over Balanath’s head from the rapid stop. Ka righted himself, shook his feet from the stirrups, and slipped down to the ground. He then pulled at the saddle straps to release them and let the saddle fall to the ground. “What are you doing!” shouted Balanath. Ka started pulling at the straps holding the supply bags. “You won’t make it with me and the supplies weighing you down.” “I can make it, I’m not leaving you,” protested Balanath. Ka grabbed two of the water flasks. One of the flasks he slung over his shoulder, and the other he held up to Balanath. “There’s no time to argue, without the extra weight you’ll make it out of the canyon before they close it, then it’s a five hour run back to the camp. You can get help and be back before dark.” “What are you going to do?” asked Balanath. “Rock dragons can’t climb a vertical wall, but humans can. I’m going to climb up to that ledge until you get back.” Ka nodded upward with his head at the ledge halfway up the side of the canyon wall, then shoved the water flask at Balanath’s mouth. “Here, hold this in your mouth, when you need water, bite it open.” Balanath hesitated for only a moment, even if Ka changed his mind, he wouldn’t be able to get the saddle back on in time. The next group of rock dragons were only seconds away. Ka had over-estimated how much time he had. Balanath snatched the water flask and leapt towards the rock dragons, he needed to give Ka enough time to climb out of the rock dragon’s reach. Balanath spun and hit them with a ferocious tail strike that sent three of the four oncoming rock dragons tumbling across the ground. The fourth rock dragon managed to jump on Balanath’s back, the first of two foolish decisions for the small gray rock dragon. Balanath was a sand dragon, and used that now to his advantage. He jumped up, and then dived into the soft sand. The rock dragon’s second foolish decision was to let go of Balanath in panic when it realized the surface was closing above it. The rock dragon knew it would never see the sun again. A moment later, Balanath exploded out of the ground, the rock dragon left behind somewhere under several tons of sand. He quickly checked Ka’s progress up the vertical surface of the canyon wall. Ka was far enough up now to be safe. Balanath turned away, and without the extra weight of a rider and supplies, shot off for the canyon entrance like a streak of silver lightening. Ka heard the rock dragons below him, snarling and growling in frustration as they jumped and scratched at the wall. They weren’t called rock dragons because they could climb, they were called rock dragons because they slept most of the day on warm flat rocks in the desert. The water flask slipped on Ka’s shoulder, necessitating hanging from one hand to readjust the strap. The rock dragons took this to mean Ka was tiring. They circled under him like sharks circling a life raft. He had no fear of heights though, and hanging from one hand meant nothing more than he needed a free hand to do something. Ka had been climbing rock walls since he was old enough to walk, and this wall was easy compared to some of the ledges he had to climb to deliver sweet meats when he was earning money working for vendors in the arena. Dragons and Riders would shout an order down to a vendor, then the vendor would put the order in a leather sack, and Ka would have to climb up to their ledge to deliver the food. Food delivery was a common job for boys around his age. An arena day meant a hardworking and fast climbing boy could easily earn a healthy sack of copper coins for a day’s work. The boys still living in the barracks were given free clothing, but that meant wearing the same thing everyone else was wearing. It was fine for stuff like socks and under-garments, but if you wanted to have something special that set you apart, you had to buy it yourself. The younger boys would usually work a half day, or maybe a full day if they really wanted something special like a new shirt or extra socks, or maybe some sweets. The boys Ka’s age would usually work two days for a new pair of boots or gloves, or maybe a big mug of ginger beer and a roast beef meal with potatoes. Three grueling days working in the arena were mostly for the oldest boys preparing for the move to the men’s barracks and needed special gear for their new life, like a new belt knife or a metal tipped spear, or even a bow and quiver. But Ka had wanted something usually only grown riders had, and so had worked four days straight once. Many riders had taken wagers on whether Ka would make it four days climbing up and down to the arena ledges, but he had been determined and earned the small fortune needed to have a custom made jerkin with decorations in silver thread to mark him as a silver rider of Clan Nath. He had always had a taste for fine clothing. Ka reached the canyon ledge and pulled himself up and onto the flat outcropping of rock. The ledge was wide enough to sit with just his feet hanging over the side, and long enough to lay down. He peaked over the edge at the rock dragons below now tearing apart the supply sacks and eating Balanath’s salted meat rations. He leaned back against the canyon wall and ignored the rock dragons below. He already knew they were going to destroy the supplies, but supplies could be replaced. Though, the supply master might be upset if the saddle got destroyed. A rider was only given three free saddles in their life, after that, you had to buy them. The first saddle was your training saddle when you were little, the second saddle was intended to last until you were an adult, and the final saddle was your adult battle saddle when you joined the Company you’d be serving with – for those that would be soldiers, like Ka and Balanath. Ka was tentatively being looked at to join the scouts. He and Balanath would never be big like the Clan Leader, but Balanath was exceptionally fast, and the scouts would be a good choice for them. There was always a chance they could hit a growth spurt, but the Nath Mother Dragon was very good at looking at a dragon and rider and knowing exactly how big they would be when full grown. He looked up as the sun started to rise over the canyon. It was going to be a warm day, but he had his… he reached for the hood of his cloak to pull over his face to block the sun and realized he’d left it tied to his saddle. That cloak had cost him five days working in the arena, but not all at one time. He’d split the cost up over several months of arena days and kept his money safely stored under the Mother Dragon. The Mother Dragons were the banks of the clans, each sleeping on the hoard of the clan’s wealth – and keeping riders and dragons from wasting their money. Mother Dragon somehow always knew when you were about to spend your money frivolously. Ka currently had 32 copper coins tucked under the Mother Dragon, and Balanath had five silver coins. Balanath made more money than he did, because Balanath was fast and could earn up to 10 bronze coins per message delivered to the Marshal Dragons on maneuvers in the desert. He scooted back to the ledge and looked down. The destruction of the supplies were scattered everywhere, except for his saddle and pack. They had tossed the saddle and pack between two boulders not ten feet from the canyon wall. A rock dragon larger than the others sat next to his saddle staring up at him. Surely the dragon could smell his rations inside the pack, and his smaller water flask was still tied to the outside of the pack. The rock dragon staring up at him had a fresh scar across its rump, something big had tried to take a bite out of it at some point. Ka hoped it had been Balanath that had bit the foul beast. He watched the rock dragon sitting next to his saddle. The dragon’s eyes had more intelligence in them than the average rock dragon. The rock dragons weren’t animals, they were intelligent, but not as intelligent as sand dragons. They were similar in intelligence to the primitive humans that lived in the forest – perhaps late Stone Age, while sand dragons were mid-Bronze Age. “My clan is coming, run while you can,” said Ka. The dragon responded in a language similar to Sand Dragon, but still too far diverged for Ka to understand, but the intent seemed clear. “Here’s your stuff, come get it.” Ka laughed and rolled over on his back. The moment he would start climbing down to accept the challenge, dozens of rock dragons would rush to meet him. He stretched out with his hands under his head. It would be a warm day, but he had a flask of water, and Balanath would be back before dark. He lay there with his eyes closed, not sleeping, but not really paying attention to what was happening below him. He was used to having things to do, and this was boring. The sun was fully over him now and much warmer than he’d expected it to be. He heard a noise above him and opened his eyes just in time to see the large rock falling towards him. He rolled flush against the canyon wall as the rock struck the ledge and sheered away half of it. More rocks fell, but the incline of the wall from the lip of the canyon to the ground was sufficient to shelter the remaining ledge from further falling rocks. He sat up, his legs now dangling over the edge. Lying down would no longer be an option. The rock dragon below had pulled his cloak away from the saddle and was now stretched out on the cloak and looking up at him, a smug satisfied expression plastered across its face. Ka mentally kicked himself for not considering the dragons might try dropping rocks on him. He grabbed a lose rock and tossed it at the dragon. The rock bounced harmlessly off its scales as the dragon opened its mouth and spit something out. Ka stared at the object for a moment, trying to convince himself it wasn’t what he knew it was. A silver scale lay on the ground in front of the rock dragon. Ka’s heart quickened until he thought it would burst out of his chest. Was that one of Balanath’s scales? Was Balanath injured? “Hey, Scar Butt, I’m going to kill you,” shouted Ka. The dragon stood, stretched, then went to Ka’s saddle and pulled the claw-bar from its sheath. He carried it over to the wall and dropped it in the sand, then went back to the cloak and lay down. The challenge was clear. “Here’s your weapon, come on down.” Ka leaned back against the wall and forced his breathing to calm. He was drenched in sweat now, the canyon wall was reflecting the heat of the sun on him. He reached for the drinking flask, but it was gone. He searched the tiny ledge, but it wasn’t there. He looked down, and there it was lying in the sand. The flask had gone over when the ledge broke. Panic rose up into Ka’s throat, he needed that water. Scar Butt saw what Ka was looking at, and again stood, stretched, and went over to the water flask. Scar pushed at the flask with its claws, then picked it up in his mouth and held it so Ka could see. Scar bit into the water flask, gulped most of the water down, then tossed the flask aside for the remaining water to spill out onto the sand before returning to the cloak to lay back down. Ka pressed his back into the wall. The sun was nearly at its highest point in the sky. Balanath would be back in a few hours, Ka refused to believe the scale lying in front of Scar Butt had come from Balanath. The sun continued to crawl across the sky, insufferably slow, and brutally hot. By mid-afternoon, he was no longer sweating. He sat on the shore of a vast ocean that stretched out to the horizon, the waves rising and ebbing in a rhythmic pulse of cool blue water. He wanted to slip into that ocean, to feel the cool water soothing his sun burned face. He thought he heard a voice. “That’s not an ocean, you will die.” Ka shook his head. The voice had been Balanath’s voice. His heart skipped a beat as he realized he was leaning forward, almost ready to dive off the ledge into the fantasy ocean. He felt dizzy. It was so hot. Below him, Scar was watching intently. Ka pressed back into the wall and pulled his knees up to his chin, then pulled his jerkin off and held it up to block the infernal heat of the sun cooking him alive on the ledge. The sun began its crawl down to the horizon, getting hotter as it went. He tried to lick his chapped lips, but his tongue wouldn’t cooperate. He wasn’t a stranger to the desert, but the difference between having water, and not having water was more significant than he’d understood – he had never had to sit on a broiling ledge all day without moving, or sipping on a water flask. On long training marches when the temperature rose too high, the Marshal Dragon would often have the boys and dragons stop and burrow into the sand to stay cool during the worst of the heat. He would give anything to be burrowed in the sand right now. The sun began its final slide down to the horizon. Balanath should be here any time now. Ka kept his eyes scanning the horizon for the dust cloud that so many dragons would create, but there was nothing other than the shadows getting longer on the ground. He stared down at the silver scale, and then back up at the horizon. Why wasn’t there any sign of approaching dragons? Ka used the remaining light to watch for dust clouds. The sun dipped below the horizon and was gone – it was night now. Balanath was long over-do. He tried not to think about the silver scale, but it kept coming to the surface of his mind. Had Balanath not made it out of the canyon? Was nobody coming? There was perhaps an hour as the temperature dropped to a comfortable level. He almost fell asleep and had to shake his head furiously to stay awake during that brief period, but the temperature continued to drop. The night was getting cold, as it always did in the desert. He glanced back down to where his pack was, but it was too dark, at least until the moon rose. He wished there were some clouds – clouds always made the desert warmer at night, but tonight there were none. It was going to get very cold. He forced his eyes to stay open, if he fell asleep, he would fall from the ledge, and if the fall didn’t kill him, the rock dragons would. The moon rose, and with it the night became so bitter cold he began shivering uncontrollably. He realized he hadn’t put his jerkin back on. How could he forget that? His brain was foggy and not thinking right. He slipped the jerkin over his head, and it helped for a few minutes, but he was soon shivering so hard, he thought he might fall off the ledge. He shook his arms and legs, trying anything to warm up a little. The moon was higher in the sky now, and next to it was a twinkling star. Had that star been there last night? He didn’t remember seeing it. The storytellers said the stars were all the dragons that had ever lived. Why was there a new star in the sky tonight? He already knew the answer, Balanath hadn’t made it out of the canyon. “Ba-Ba, is that you?” Ka whispered to the twinkling star, not realizing he had reverted to what he’d called Balanath when he was very little. “Ba-Ba, I’m still here, don’t leave me.” The night continued like a death shroud wrapping around him. He wanted to cry, but there wasn’t enough moisture left to form tears. Soon enough he stopped shivering, his fingers and toes felt swollen, his heart beat slowed, and he wanted to close his eyes and sleep, but he couldn’t, he had to keep his eyes on the Balanath star, lest it might vanish and he’d never find his dragon again. And so all through that eternal night, he watched the star and felt the crushing loneliness descend that would never go away again. Balanath was dead. Ka remembered everything. Balanath had held him as a baby, protecting him, and caring for his every need. The Mother Dragon had been there, coaching Balanath on what to do, but it had been Balanath that had done all the work, as was proper. Balanath was who he leaned against when he was learning to walk, and it was Balanath that lifted him up every time he fell. Balanath was his father, his brother, and his best friend. Life would have no meaning without Balanath. A few times he started to nod off, but a voice – Balanath’s voice – spoke urgently in his head – stay awake. He wasn’t certain when it started, but the outline of the rocks and canyon began to take shape. The night was nearly over. As the light grew, he saw the rock dragons over near the herd of wildebeests. They must have huddled together during the night for warmth. Maybe he could have climbed down during the night and escaped, but it was too late for that now. He rubbed his fingers and arms together to get the blood flowing. The rock dragons were still asleep, he had to go now. He scooted to the end of the ledge, then twisted and jammed his fingers into a crevice and swung away from the ledge. It was like a thousand needles in his hands as he struggled to hold on, but he couldn’t stop now, he had to climb down before the Balanath star disappeared. His knees buckled and cramped when he reached the ground. He bit his tongue to keep from crying out as the muscle spasms racked his body. He had to get up, the star was disappearing. He worked furiously to rub the knots out of his legs. He saw the water flask tied to his pack, but he didn’t need water anymore, and would never need it again. His hand wrapped around his claw-bar lying in the sand where Scar Butt had thrown it, it was all he needed now. He pushed himself to his feet and stood on shaky legs, it felt as if the ground was moving under him. The rock dragons must have heard him and raised their heads. It was time, he had to do it now. He opened his mouth and screamed his final battle cry, and then he was in the middle of the rock dragons, swinging his claw-bar wildly as he continued to shout his rage. The ground trembled beneath him to match his anger and pain and his eyes burned from the dust in the air. “I coming, Ba-Ba, I coming,” he shouted as the claw-bar struck one of the rock dragons. The rock dragon tumbled back, then turned and ran. “Cowards, fight me!” he screamed as more of the rock dragons fled from him. The big one he called Scar Butt lunged at him. Ka jumped into the lunge, then spun to the side as he’d been drilled ten-thousand times by Gunthar, the Training Master. He brought the claw-bar down as the dragon’s momentum took him past Ka. The claw-bar raked across Scar’s rump, leaving him with a wound that would create a matching scar to the one he already had. Ka braced for another charge from Scar, but the dragon only turned and ran, following the other rock dragons already fleeing. The blood pounded in his ears like a tornado roaring, but his legs felt weak and ready to buckle under him. Why wouldn’t the rock dragons fight him? “Well then, what do we have here?” said a deep voice. Ka spun around, and in doing so his vision blurred as he lost his hold on what remaining equilibrium his dehydrated body had left. He fell to his knees and leaned heavily on his claw-bar to keep from falling on his face. He blinked his eyes and tried to push away the nauseating spin of the world around him. His eyes focused just enough to see four men slip down from their dragons and surround him. The men held curved shiny swords with jewels set into the hilts, and their clothing was nothing he’d ever seen before. They wore what looked like silk pants, tight at the waist, but baggy around the thighs, and then tapering tight against the ankles. And their boots… weren’t boots, but pointy shoes with the tips curling up at the toes. Black ink, or something, lined their eyes, and they had pointy beards with something wrapped around their heads. And behind them, the thousands of dragons in four columns were yellow, like the color of the sun, and had bits of silk ribbon tied around them and fluttering in the breeze. Ka didn’t know the names for any of the things they wore, or the weapons they carried, but from stories he’d heard, he knew who they were. This was the Southern Dragon Army, and surely the massive dragon just behind the four guard dragons in front of him had to be the Southern King of Dragons. Ka let the claw-bar fall to the sand and raised his hands. “I surrender.”