Secrets in Smoke by Ashe Moon
3
Rainor
We flewalong the coast in formation, three dragons forming the points of a triangle with Altair in the front, Grayson and Dalia on his back, and Delos and I at the rear. A crisp breeze rolled in from the sea and pulled the clouds into long white strands across the sky. In the water below us, big rocks jutted out like a dragon’s teeth, and on some of the larger ones, we’d painted white marks to make them into targets. We banked left over them and Grayson guided Dalia’s hand and pointed at one of the rocks below.
“Ready? Okay! Now!” he shouted, and Dalia opened her little fist and dropped a glass orb filled with red paint. She watched it fall, her eyes wide with anticipation, and when it splattered right on the mark, she squealed and bounced up and down.
“Good job,” Altair said, turning his head so that he could see her.
We’d been training Grayson with the orbs and had recently started showing Dalia in the hope she would develop an innate sense for using them. She was still very young, but in the old days, dragons used to train whelps in their abilities as soon as their wings could carry them off the ground. What we were doing now was still something fun, a daily outing, and an excuse for the flight to be together. We whipped along the sharp face of the cliffs, past the black mouths of the caves that wound into the rock, places that were once the homes of dragons during a time when only a few humans lived where Old Shore Port now stood, when men and dragons regularly mated and formed flights together. Days most no longer remembered, relegated to the lore books.
“Up, up!” Dalia cried.
“Hold on,” said Altair, and his entire body became straight like an arrow, his wings carrying him almost vertical. Delos and I followed, and soon we were above the cliffs, nearly touching the clouds.
“Look there,” I called to Dalia and gestured with my claw. “There’s home. Do you see the watchtower?”
“It’s small,” she said.
“And there’s the Watch headquarters,” said Altair. “Uncle Rainor is going to have fun there today.”
“Oh, yes,” I said. “So much fun.”
“You ought to be excited,” said Delos. “You get to spend the whole day with your favorite victim. Poor bastard.”
“Bastah,” shouted Dalia.
“Sorry,” Delos said quietly, avoiding Grayson’s glare. “Hey, Dalia! Look at this!” He puffed a cloud of powdery white snow that sparkled in the sun and turned into a fine mist followed by a rainbow. Her attention immediately turned and she laughed with delight, reaching out to try and catch the band of colored light.
“It ought to be a real joy,” I said. “Let’s see how long I can stay sane for.”
Maybe I was exaggerating a bit. I wasn’t thrilled to have to use my time to train Thomas, but I did get a lot of entertainment out of his foibles. And there was something else… Something I’d detected during the meeting with him the day before. I didn’t know what it was, exactly. My senses had pricked up near him and had put an odd feeling deep in my gut. I wanted to know what it was and if it’d happen again, because it was like nothing I’d ever felt before. Somewhere between an upset stomach and the excitement before stepping into a fire.
We continued our tour of the skies for a little while longer until it was time for me to go, and I peeled off the group. Dalia waved until she was too far away to see. I flew inland, coming in low over the buildings. Those in the street looked up at me, some moving indoors or under shelter to avoid my shadow. Then I reached the Watch headquarters and dove into a landing in front of the building, my claws clattering across the cobblestones as I stretched my wings to slow me down. People screamed and leaped aside, the wind from my arrival tearing at their clothes and hair. Two officers were nearly knocked off their feet in surprise as my momentum carried me towards them. Then I shifted and was in human form when I reached them, and I slapped them on the shoulders.
“Don’t piss your pants, boys,” I said and pushed open the doors to the headquarters.
“He’ll be down soon,” Castelle said to me, and she gave me a look that could match Delos in its iciness. She said nothing more and continued to glare at me like she wanted to bite my head off.
I stared back, mildly amused. “Why does it feel like I’m being guarded? Don’t worry, I’m not going to break anything.”
I touched the crack running through the wood tabletop. Castelle said nothing and looked past me. She held herself at attention by the door, her arms firmly at her sides. I went over to the bookshelf and picked up a rolled map to look at.
“Put that down,” she said. “Those are for officers of the Watch only.”
“I have this one hanging in my room,” I said. “There’s nothing secret here.”
“Then you don’t need to look at it. Put it down.”
I shrugged and slid the map back into its place. “What about… this one?” I picked up an old book and thumbed through the pages. A History of the Ivilirst Region. A good book. I’d read it many times.
“Stop that.”
“Not a fan of dragons, are you?”
“I’m not a fan of you,” she said.
“Because I’m a dragon.”
“Because you think that makes you better than us.”
I snapped the book shut in my hand and turned to put it back. “I don't think that at all,” was what I said, but there was a seed of doubt in my mind, and I didn’t like it.
“You think our lack of abilities is a weakness. Well, you’re wrong. It’s our strength.”
I had a human flight-mate and a human flight-daughter. I loved them both, so how could I feel above humans? I thought of Dalia, of her joy at hitting the mark with her practice orb, and felt a pang of guilt. The sudden confrontation with the reality that my playful disdain for the Watch came from a feeling of superiority over their natural limitations put a black feeling in my heart. I’d never consciously acknowledged it before, but it was true.
The door opened and Thomas walked in. He glanced from Castelle to me and said, “Seems like I arrived just in time to stop Castelle from killing you. I know that death glare.”
I laughed and put my hands up in surrender. “Spare me until I train you, at least.”
Thomas nodded to her and she marched angrily out the door, leaving the two of us alone.
“I’m surprised she isn’t the captain of the Watch,” I said. “She could probably kick your ass.”
“Castelle always outperformed me when we were officers. She would’ve been made captain, but turned it down.”
“Really? Why?”
“Because of me.” It seemed like there was some regret in his voice, or maybe it was doubt. “Castelle is an orphan. I’d just joined the Watch when I found her living in the dockyards on a patrol, and I spent the day talking to her. Or at her. She hadn’t spoken to anyone in a long time. So I sat there and told her all about my silly dreams of how I was going to make something of myself and get to the top of the Watch and be captain. A couple of days later, she showed up at headquarters and said she wanted to follow me.” Thomas chuckled. “I don’t know why I told you that. She’d certainly kill me if she knew. Should we get started?”
“That’s funny,” I said, taken by surprise by Thomas’s story.
“What is?”
“That story. It reminds me of, uh...” I cleared my throat and picked up a wooden chest I’d brought with me and put it on the table with a heavy thud.
“It reminds you of what?”
“Nothing. Not going to go into my life story today. We’ve got work to do.”
Memories of a different time carried feelings of pain and guilt that were still as strong as ever. I’d kept them stored away, and it was the first time in a while that they’d come back so clearly. A vision of flames burning out of control, consuming the buildings like a dry brush. Flames I’d started, just because I was a dumb kid with nothing better to do, a young dragon who wanted to test his fire.
Thomas was eyeing me, but he didn’t press me, and I was thankful for it.
I pulled the latch on the chest and pushed back the lid, revealing the rows of dragon ice orbs inside. Thomas came next to me, but it seemed like he was keeping his distance.
“What, do I stink or something?” I said.
“No,” he said, and he moved a little closer.
“These are the first batch,” I said. “A hundred bottles and Delos should have three more chests ready by the end of the month. We’ll use a few for training today. But mostly, we’ll stick with this.” I pulled a tomato out of my pocket.
“Target practice, huh?” Thomas said.
“I wouldn’t want to waste good supplies, especially knowing you. Better to get tomato on you than to freeze your nuts off by accident.”
“That won’t happen again,” he said.
“Uh-huh. Anyway, I got these at the market today. Big tomato harvest. Beautiful things, all the colors of flame. They’d make a perfect pasta sauce.”
“I wouldn’t know. I’m not much of a cook.”
“What do you have to eat here at the headquarters? How do you keep these men fed?”
“Uh, well, we have a kind of porridge stew thing. Salted meat and bread. We make do. Honestly, food hasn’t been a major priority as long as everyone is fed.”
I was astounded. Whatever the Watch was eating, it sounded awful. “What? You’re joking. How can you expect performance without a good meal? A dragon’s heart is empty without a feast, and quantity isn’t the same as quality.”
“A dragon’s needs are different from a human’s, perhaps.”
“I don't think so. You humans seem to think dragons revel in excess, but we just know how to enjoy ourselves. In the end, everything in this world has the same needs, and I know that a well-made meal can make all the difference. Today, after training, I’ll use the tomatoes I brought to make something for all the Watch. You’ll see.”
“Okay, if you insist. I hope you brought a lot of tomatoes, then.”
We went outside to the training field where I’d already set out five large crates packed full of shining, plump tomatoes harvested that morning, nearly the entire stock of two vendors in the market. Thomas was surprised at the amount I’d brought, and he became annoyed.
“Hold on a second, we’re not going to waste all of these smashing them against targets, are we?”
“Then you’d better show me you can aim well,” I said with a grin, and I tossed a tomato at him.
He bounced it between his hands trying to catch it, and it fell on his boot and splattered. “Dammit. I don’t like wasting food.”
I motioned for him to throw it back to me, and he did, but his aim was off. I jutted out my arm and caught it, and then dropped it in an empty crate. The juice dripped down my palm, and I licked it off. “Don’t worry. I can clean and reuse them for cooking. The sauce needs crushed tomatoes, so I figured you’d do the work for me.”
Thomas frowned and then laughed. “You’re making me do your dirty work? Was that your plan the whole time? Free labor to do your cooking?”
“Maybe,” I said, tossing him another tomato. This time, he caught it. “There’s plenty of tomatoes to train with, but not enough dragon ice. Not for the entire Watch. First things first, though, and that’s getting your clumsy ass up to speed.”
Thomas’s eyes narrowed, and he hurled the tomato back at me. It was fast and nearly hit me in the chest, but I caught it at the last moment and accidentally crushed it in my fist. I tossed the remains into the crate and cleaned my hand.
“Never had to practice throwing things in my life,” said Thomas. “How’s that?”
“Just throwing things isn’t the hard part. It’ll be the accuracy that matters for fighting fires.” I restrained myself from trying to pelt him with another one; I wanted to get him back, but I knew that if I threw it now, it would turn into an all-out tomato war. Covering Thomas in fruit splatter would’ve been funny as hell, but a waste of time. I’d save my retort for later when he didn’t expect it.
On the field, I’d set up targets at different heights to represent the best places to attack a fire—windows and doors at ground level up to around three stories, which was the tallest height most buildings reached in Old Shore Port. I explained to Thomas the need for precision. Delos’s ice breath could blanket a building in seconds, freezing it over entirely. But it would take too many orbs to achieve the same effect, especially if they were breaking on the building’s outer walls. The ice needed to hit the source of the fire, which was usually inside, as well as land on the roof to create a shower of water and ice that could smother a blaze.
Thomas hurled tomatoes at the targets and at first failed to hit most of them, but his aim was improving slightly. And his face showed how serious he was, sharp with determination. All the times I’d seen him work, it’d been at a distance when I was distracted by my duties, and I realized that this was the first time I’d seen this side of him, and I understood why he was the captain. But the highest targets gave him trouble. He could arc them over the top of the target board without a problem as if he were lobbing them onto a rooftop, but he couldn’t get them inside the little white circle painted on the wood.
“Come on,” I said, goading him on. “What’s the matter? Too tall for you?”
He grunted angrily and hurled another tomato, but it hit the side of the target and splattered onto the ground next to all the others. “Gods be damned,” he muttered. “What do you know about throwing things at targets, Rainor?” He threw another and it sailed past the target without touching it. “You dragons don’t have to do this stuff.”
“No, maybe not,” I said. I picked up a tomato, drew my arm back, and aimed. My senses were sharp, even in my human form. Any dragon would’ve found this easy. I swung and threw, and it was like a red line being drawn from me directly to the center of the target. The board fell off the post and clattered on the ground.
Thomas scowled. “Ah, fuck you.”
He tried again and again, but just couldn’t seem to get it, and it seemed like he was doing all he could to keep himself from lashing out in frustration. He knew that if he lost his cool, it would be seen by his men who were watching from the headquarters.
“You’ve already made a lot of progress,” I said. “Don’t worry if you can’t get this one yet.”
“No,” he said, and his eyes flashed with fire. “I have to get this. I’m going to show you I can do this.” But he still couldn’t make the mark, and that determination I’d seen turned into pure stubborn will. It would be impossible for him to accomplish anything in this frame of mind, and he knew it. But still, he kept trying.
He reached for another tomato and I grabbed his wrist. “Enough,” I said.
He looked up at me, and there was disappointment in his eyes like he’d just failed the greatest test of his life. This was a man who was too hard on himself, I realized.
I held back from teasing him like usual and smiled at him instead, as reassuring a smile as I knew how to give. “We’ve got enough tomatoes smashed. Let’s take a break. We’ve been at it for hours and I’m getting hungry.”
Thomas relaxed and nodded. “You’re right.” He exhaled and pushed his fingers through his hair.
“Help me get these,” I said, and we went around and gathered all the broken tomatoes from the ground.
The Watch headquarters had a kitchen large enough to make meals for everyone in the building, with massive cauldrons set out on charcoal stoves. The porridge he’d mentioned was in one of them, a lumpy grey soup that was bubbling away and looked like it might’ve been made a decade ago. I stuck my finger into it and nearly gagged when I tasted it.
“Now I have no doubts about what’s holding you back. It’s not the fact that you’re human, it’s the fact that you eat this.”
I heard a sniffle and turned around to see a man hurrying out of the kitchen with a dejected air hanging over him. “That was Michael, our cook,” Thomas said dryly.
“I’ll have to add this to the training, then,” I muttered.
The tomatoes went from the crate into the large copper wash basin, and Thomas helped me rinse them clean beneath the spigot. After that, I took a portion of the remaining undamaged tomatoes and smashed them in a big pot using my fists, and then added the rest. I’d brought two shanks from an Ivilirst boar I’d hunted and smoked, and had Thomas take a knife to them and turn them into small cubes. There were onions in the pantry, and I found Michael and recruited him into chopping them.
I stuck my hand into the stove and grabbed a piece of wood, setting it ablaze. To get the pot simmering quickly, I placed my palms on its sides and let my heat move into it. In a while, it was bubbling, red and thick, and I threw in herbs and mushrooms I found in the pantry and stirred it with a large wooden paddle. Then I worked on making the dumplings, kneading a ball of dough three times the size of Thomas’s head, and then rolling it flat on the counter. Officers milled about watching and sniffing the air, and Thomas barked at them to get back to their jobs.
I could see how the officers responded to him with loyalty and respect, but I sensed that he was somewhat insecure about his position as captain. He was proud, strong, and effective, but it seemed like he had something he wanted to prove. There was a lot more to Thomas than I’d assumed. Maybe I’d always seen it, and maybe that was why I’d found myself drawn to him. He was an unusual alpha. Different, and my senses told me it was bound to that brief moment during our meeting the day before when I’d felt that strange energy in the air from him.
He raised an eyebrow at me, and I realized I was staring at him. “Cut these into small pieces,” I told him. “Michael! Check that sauce. Taste it. You’ve got senses, use them. You’ll need them for the training I’m going to put you through.”
A beautiful aroma had filled the kitchen and was spreading through the entire building, so good that a crowd was coming to see what was happening. It made me think these poor bastards had never eaten anything delicious before in their lives.
Thirty minutes later, the food was ready and Thomas rang the meal bell. There were around thirty people on duty in the headquarters and a few who had just come back from their patrols around town, and a line quickly formed. Thomas and I served the food, and I properly introduced myself to everyone. I could see that some were less keen about taking food from a dragon, even though they recognized me as a member of the fire flight. But once spoons were in mouths, their expressions softened, and everyone seemed satisfied by the good food in their stomachs. Even Castelle looked happy.
We took our bowls outside and ate next to the training field. The sun was falling and the shadows stretched across the dirt. Thomas was looking at the targets like all he wanted to do was get back out there and continue.
“Okay, I confess. This is pretty good,” he said.
“Told you,” I said. “And I guarantee every officer in there is ready to go to work.”
Thomas polished off the rest of his bowl. “And now I am, too.”
I could see there wasn’t a point in trying to convince him to wrap up for the day. He was already walking onto the field. I followed him and then had an idea.
“Let’s try something,” I said. “I think I know how I can improve your aim. You need something better to aim at.”
I went to the pole with the tallest target and shifted into dragon form. Thomas took a step back, startled as I spread my wings and alighted myself the extra distance so that I was hovering, holding the target at the third story height. “Don’t look scared,” I said. “You’ve seen this form before. Now, come on. Hit me!”
He picked up one of the leftover tomatoes, turned it in his palm, feeling its weight, and then threw. The tomato smacked me right on the snout, and Thomas laughed.
“I mean, the target,” I grunted. “Hit the target.”
“I thought you said to hit you?” He lobbed another but I torched it mid-air before it reached my face.
“Don’t make me do the same to your ass,” I said as the charred remains fell and crumbled apart like ash from a cigar.
“I’m starting to have fun with this,” he said, but this throw was true, and it landed on target.
“Excellent!” I boomed, and he clapped his hands in celebration.
All the throws he made afterward hit their mark, except for two which seemed purposely aimed at my face. He was ready for the real thing. I landed and shifted back to human form. Next to the crate of tomatoes was a chest of dragon ice, and I opened it and handed him one of the orbs.
“Think you can do it?” I said. “You don’t want to waste these.”
Then I jogged back out and took up the target again in my dragon form, holding it even higher than before.
“What are you doing?” he said, “I’m not going to throw this at you.”
“Why not? If you’re sure you can do it, then you’ll hit the target and everything will be fine. You won’t turn me into an ice statue.”
“And if I miss? You’ll get hurt. Not a wise idea.”
“Then don’t miss. Come on, Thomas. Show me what you can do. Prove yourself.”
There it was again, that fiery look in his eyes. That determination. I knew I’d touched the right nerve. What was driving him?
“Come on,” I rumbled. “Do it.”
A light breeze blew across the field and rustled his hair. It whistled around my body and beneath my wings. Thomas held the orb close to his chest, his eyes locked on the target. Then the wind stopped. Thomas swung his arm and sent the blue glass spinning through the air at me, and it smashed dead center in the middle of the target. The liquid splashed down and turned into a cascade of ice, like a waterfall freezing over, and the wooden target froze through in my hands.
I pushed heat to my fingers and let go so that I was hovering behind it. The dragon ice that had drizzled onto my scales turned to steam, and I could feel their little needle pricks of cold across my body. Thomas sighed and grinned with relief, and he came over to look at the beautiful chandelier of blue ice hanging from the target, twinkling in the sun. As he walked beneath it and looked up, I knew exactly how I was going to get him back for his little attempted tomato attack.
“Good job,” I said, and before he could respond, I stoked my heat and touched my claws to the dragon ice, instantly turning it into liquid. It rained on him like a winter downpour, drenching him from head to toe. He stood there in shock, dripping wet, his hair matted across his face.
“Gods,” he said, shaking water from his sleeves. “Gods, I hate you.”
I floated down, laughing like an idiot. “Gotcha!” I cackled.
He glared at me, eyes blazing furiously, and another gust of wind came from behind him and made him shiver. It blew across my nose, carrying his scent with it, and everything seemed to come to a stop.
That scent.
It was like a shadow had suddenly been lit, revealing someone completely different in front of me. Just a moment ago, Thomas had smelled no different from any human alpha, and with that scent, I’d built his identity in my mind. But now, suddenly, it’d changed, and it was unmistakable. The man standing in front of me was an omega.
