Page 7 of Lightningborn

A vicious gust of wind nearly blew him off his feet as he rushed out, and drops of rain pelted him as he sprinted toward the edge of the pool of water at the storm drain. Behind him, the sky flashed and pulsed with purple light, and thunder howled as the storm crept closer.

Suddenly, there was a roar, different from the sound of the storm, directly overhead.

Something flashed by in the clouds. Something big and dark, with a long tail trailing behind it. It was gone so quickly, Remy wasn’t certain of what he’d seen, but a few seconds later, the clouds parted and a massive sky ship burst through the storm after it, making his heart seize up. The hull of the vessel was armored and enormous, and the painted image of a terrible, grinning, sharp-toothed fish made the ship itself look like some huge predator.

Remy knew this ship. If not by sight, then by reputation. It was called theWindshark, and it belonged to one of the most dangerous, infamous pirates in the Fringe. Probably in the whole kingdom. A man named Jhaeros, who was famous not just for his ruthlessness and cruelty, but also for the fact that he himself was a storm mage. Mages were common aboard sky ships, but they were usually belowdecks, powering the ship crystal that enabled it to fly. A ship either hired a storm mage for the journey or they had their own on hand at all times, but mages usually workedforship captains as part of the crew. Jhaeros was an exception to this.

The sky ship continued on, soaring into a cloud bank and vanishing from sight. A moment later, though, a tremendous boom rocked the earth at Remy’s feet, a red flare igniting the clouds near where theWindsharkhad passed.

Cannon fire?Remy gasped and stumbled forward, the echoes of the cannons ringing in his head.What is it shooting at?

A bucket went spinning by his face, barely missing him. The spell storm was nearly there. Remy lunged forward, stumbled, and fell to his hands and knees at the edge of the pool. Cold mud soaked his trousers and coated his arms as he pulled himself upright, panting and looking around. In the ominous flickering, he suddenly spotted the stone drainage pipe across the water. His feet sank into the mud, but he pushed his way through the reeds toward the distant safety of the pipe.

A cry made him pause. It sounded like something in pain. Remy stopped, gazing around as the wind tore at him, wondering if anyone else was out in the dangerous weather.

Something dark fluttered down from the sky, landing with a splash in the center of the pool, and Remy’s heart jumped. The creature, whatever it was, let out a cry, weakly flapping its wings against the water. It was larger than any bird he had seen, more the size of a terrier or the big, scarred alley cats that prowled Beggar’s Row looking for fights. The wings of this bird were also strange—smooth and almost…leathery?

Whatever it was, it was obviously hurt, and probably close to drowning if it couldn’t fly. Remy splashed into the pond, pushing his way toward the distressed creature. For him, the water wasn’t very deep, only coming up to his waist. But it was cold, and the mud sucked at his ankles, so it took him a few seconds to wade out to the center of the pond.

The large bird, or whatever it was, still struggled weakly to keep afloat as Remy reached it. Without thinking, he stretched out an arm, and the creature immediately latched on, digging into his skin with tiny talons. Remy sucked in a breath at the pain.

“Ow, ow! Hey, take it easy; you’re okay now. Calm—”

The creature’s head twisted up to look at him, and Remy was suddenly pinned by a pair of bright purple eyes.

It wasn’t a bird staring at him. No bird had horns sweeping out from its skull. Or a reptilian muzzle with the tips of fangs poking out of its jaw. Or a pair of large, bat-like wings flaring from its back and shoulders.

This…was a dragon. Remy was holding a baby dragon.

Overhead, a blinding purple flash lit up the sky, and a boom of thunder caused ripples to shake the pond. Dragon or no, they couldn’t stand here, staring at each other, with the storm about to break on top of them. Pulling the dragon to his chest, Remy cradled it gently as he sloshed through the water. The dragon clung to his shirt with tiny claws; he could feel its heart beating through its scales as it shook against him.

Remy scrambled into the pipe just as the skies opened up and the rain poured down in sheets. As the purple lightning flickered and the thunder roared, he sat down with his back to the wall and gazed at the creature in his arms.

A dragon. His eyes hadn’t been playing tricks on him; it was a real dragon, curled up and shaking in his lap. It was dark, and with the eerie flickering light Remy couldn’t tell what color the dragon’s scales were, but it did have a silky white mane running from between its horns all the way to its spade-tipped tail.

A dragon was sitting in his lap. Remy wondered if he really was dreaming, after all.

A clap of thunder boomed overhead, reverberating through the pipe, and the dragon flinched, trying to burrow into him. “Ouch!” Remy exclaimed as those sharp talons dug into his skin. “Hey, calm down,” he said, putting both hands on the dragon’s side, feeling its heart fluttering like a bird’s against his palms. “It’s all right; we’re safe here. The storm can’t get to us, I promise.”

He didn’t know if the dragon could understand him, but it stopped trying to dig its way into his clothes. It craned its head around, peering back at him with glowing eyes the same color as the lightning overhead. Its jaws opened, showing a flash of tiny teeth, and it made a sound almost like a baby bird.

Remy let out a shaky breath. In that moment, with the dragon’s luminescent purple eyes staring him right in the face, he would’ve done anything to protect it. Maybe because it was so tiny and defenseless. Or maybe because the dragon was an orphan like him, left with no parents and all alone in the world. He knew what that was like.

Carefully, he gathered the dragon in his arms, holding it close to his chest so his body heat could warm it up. The baby made another squeak, then tucked its nose into the crook of his elbow and wrapped its tail around itself. Leaning against the cold stone, Remy hunched his body over the dragon and felt the tiny creature relax.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”

The dragon shivered. Outside, the storm continued to rage across Cutthroat Wedge. Lightning flashed, wind howled, and rain beat against everything. Debris went hurling by the pipe’s opening, spinning and tumbling with the storm, but inside, Remy felt safe with the dragon.

Storm.That would be a good name for him, all things considered.

Remy looked down at the dragon, its head buried in the crook of his arm. This wasn’thisdragon, of course. Even hatchlings like this were far too valuable and expensive to just let go. Obviously, this was someone’s baby from one of the dragon stables around the kingdom, though Remy had no idea how it had gotten this far by itself. He was a thief, but he knew better than to steal something as precious and expensive as a dragon. Egg smuggling was one of the most serious crimes you could commit, and those who tried selling dragons on the black market were immediately and violently put out of business.

He sighed, remembering one of Bart’s stories about dragons and how the rich kept track of them. “Every dragon stable has their own unique tattoo,” Bart had said. “When a dragon lays an egg, the tattoo is magically branded onto the egg. When the dragon hatches, the tattoo is already in place. That’s why you can’t just steal an egg to raise your own dragon. All someone has to do is lift up the right wing to see the brand, and you would be arrested for false ownership.”

As much as Remy hated it, there was no way he could keep this dragon. He couldnotget attached. He could not be thinking of names, or where it would sleep. Having a dragon in his possession would causeallsorts of trouble; dragons weren’t exactly subtle creatures that you could just hide away. Eventually, everyone would know about it.

No, the best thing to do was to take the baby dragon to the Salty Barrel in the morning, and have Ferus or Bart hand it over to the proper authorities. They would be able to track down its owner and return the dragon to where it belonged. That would be best, for both of them.

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