(Part 2)

They’d crossed the border to the Unclaimed Lands yesterday. Another day and they’d make it to Perch, the land of dragons. A place where dragons and humans were free to do as they pleased within the law. A place where dragons were not treated like just another man-made, inanimate creation. Yrth had sent Jaundice there when the crown had first shown interest in the war outside his borders, first shown indications that he did not see dragons as living creatures. It had been a hard parting, and she couldn’t wait to see that little dragonet again.

They landed in a puff of dust under a withered tree.

“Same arrangement?” Yrth asked, sliding off of Nae’ali. She’d finally gotten the trick of it again. She’d never Written any big dragons herself, and the ones her mother had Written were always prickly and only begrudgingly allowed her on their backs.

Ozzy nodded, arrowing in on a direction that seemed exactly the same as any other direction to Yrth.

“It’s a good thing I don’t have to get us to Perch,” she commented, leaning against Nae’ali’s warm hide.

The rumbles of draconic laughter rippled into her, loosening her muscles as a smile tugged at her lips. And then the nothingness, the incompleteness shivered into her on the heels of the laugh. Her fists tightened.

She liked Nae’ali. She didn’t want her to unravel. But…

She wouldn’t dare complete that.

Almost as if Nae’ali could read her thoughts, the dragon spoke up. “It’s been quite a while, M’thor. As talented as you are, I presume you’ve found what’s ailing me.”

Yrth’s jaw clenched. Silence filled the space between them.

Nae’ali wiggled her whiskers, raising an eyebrow. “I’m surprised. I’ve never been wrong about a person before.”

“No,” Yrth found herself saying. “I know what’s missing. But I can’t—won’t—fix it.”

Nae’ali twisted away from her. Yrth fell backwards, her support missing. The dragon appeared in before her, sliding her coils so that she towered over the prostrate Yrth, so that her shadow fell intimidatingly across the woman’s face.

“You won’t?” the dragon hissed, laughing incredulously. “You won’t, and I’ve gone through all this trouble to find you? You won’t, and I’ve even dragged my favorite human across two countries for you?” She laughed again. “Funny, for a moment I was even thinking you might have been in the running for my second-favorite human.”

Yrth shivered. Nae’ali’s author had done a good job. He’d written intimidation deep into her scales, made it so that she seemed to swallow up all the light in the surrounding area until only two orbs of fire raged inside her eyes. Yrth grit her teeth. “What your author Wrote is not something that’s meant to be. That’s why his apprentice burned that sheet of paper.”

The dragon’s sides shifted, and somehow she seemed even bigger, even darker. Nae’ali voice dropped an octave. “Oh? And what could that be, such that it’s worth killing me for?”

Yrth took a deep breath. “He was trying to call down the Dragon God.”

Nae’ali sneered. “And is calling on a god such a terrible thing? Do you take pleasure in a long, drawn-out conflict? Or perhaps you’re on the side that thinks dragons aren’t people and hope the country that kept you locked in a dungeon ought to win?” Nae’ali stormed closer. “My author was astute,” she glowered, “and saw the quickest way to end things. And yet it seems like I’ve inherited his penchant for surrounding himself with traitors.”

Yrth forced herself to her feet. “But at what cost?” she growled, staring into the fiery orbs only inches from her face. “I know I’m sure as hell not willing to pay the damn price.”

Nae’ali leaned backwards, surprised at the sudden ferocity. “What?”

Yrth strode into the empty space, pulled her shaking limbs underneath her. “Dragons are creativity, they’re flights of fancy given form. Have you ever noticed that no two dragons are exactly the same?” Nae’ali tried to retreat again, but Yrth stubbornly advanced. “Have you ever wondered why you look so different and so similar to other dragons? When I first saw you, I was surprised. You had so many different aspects to you, it was like your author was trying to make you every single different type of dragon at the same time. Well, it turns out he was. He wanted to Write the prototypical dragon. The dragon from which all stories of dragons sprang. And he thought,” Yrth choked on her words, could only rely on her balled fists to keep her going. “He thought that in making such a prototype, the epitome of dragondom, the Dragon God, could manifest.” The strength in her tone started to flag. But she had to finish, had to keep talking. Her gaze anchored to the ground. “A dragon is a dragon because there’s no such thing as a single dragon. As a Writer myself… this thing shouldn’t be done.”

Nae’ali seemed to deflate. She gently nudged Yrth’s shoulder. “Even if it should not be done, a god is a god. Think of the lives we can save.”

“Do you think a god will suffer a body guest?” Yrth whispered, voice cracking.

Nae’ali froze. “You mean…”

“I don’t want to watch a god steal your body, Nae’ali. I don’t want to have to lose a friend and watch something that looks like that friend every day, knowing that my friend is gone for good. So no. I won’t complete you.”

Nae’ali’s nose pressed deeper into her shoulder. Yrth heard her quiet exhale.

A cough sounded behind them. Yrth’s head shot up. The two of them separated.

Ozzy coughed again, awkwardly. “So uh. What’s this about Nae’ali being a god?”

Over the campfire, Ozzy sighed, head in his hands. “I feel stupid.”

Nae’ali snorted. “It’s okay, I have more than enough brain for the two of us.”

Yrth rolled her eyes. “Either way, long story short, if you want to go through with summoning a god, I won’t be Writing for it. And you can be sure I’ll do my level best to prevent it.”

Ozzy sighed again. “Forgive me, I know absolutely nothing about this, Miss Writer—”

“Yrth is fine.”

“Yrth, then. But what’s to stop you from finishing Nae’ali a different way? You’re a Writer yourself, can’t you just complete her so that she doesn’t summon a god?”

Two sets of eyes stared at him. He cringed. “Yeah, I know, it’s weird—”

“No,” Yrth interrupted. “That’s not a bad idea. I hadn’t thought of that.” She turned towards the dragon. “Nae’ali?” she asked hesitantly. “I know you liked the idea of a quick end to the war, but… what do you think of me completing you in a way your author didn’t intend? Finish the loose ends, but leave you enough of yourself that the Dragon God can’t move in? I—maybe I can even find some way for you to channel the prototypical dragon…?”

Nae’ali glanced down, scuffed a claw in the dust, the loose ash from the campfire. “I know it’s selfish, but I don’t want to give someone else my body, either.” She met Yrth’s eyes. “I would be honored for you to complete me.” A silent moment, and then a faint rumble shook the campsite. “Won’t it be grand? I’ll be the only dragon with two authors.”

r/chanceofwords