Page 11 of Scaled Hearts

“Yes,” Amanda leans in close. “You need to be careful, if you’re going to go. I’ve heard of sailors who have gone missing as they pass the island. Nothing good can come from going there.”

“I appreciate your help,” I say, throwing my bag into the boat. “But I’m still going. I have to. It’s not for me, it’s for my sister. I’ll be okay. I’ve worked in the mines since I was a child, I’m strong and I’m capable. I can handle myself.”

“Good luck then,” she squeezes my arm and nods. It’s nice to have someone wishing me luck and I nod back as I push off of the shore, the hoqin tied up so he doesn’t try to escape.

It’s a clear night, nearly cloudless and the moon shines bright in the sky. The waters are relatively calm as I row. It’s not hard but neither is it completely effortless. I have a long way to go before I arrive.

As I row, my compass in my lap, I stare up at the twinkling stars, contemplating my mission.

What in the world will it be like to meet a dragon? Are they giant, evil lizard beings? Or are they more like the orcs, simple-minded and dumb? I can’t wrap my brain around what they look like. All I can picture is the lizards that cling to the walls of the mine, except with wings.

The thought amuses me. I imagine one of the tiny lizards flying around in the faces of the orcs and I let out a chuckle. The hoqin looks at me, tilting his head and letting out a whoosh of air from his nostrils, as though he is questioning my sanity.

I pray the dragons have wisdom, like Agatha says. I pray they know what my sister’s disease is, and how to cure it. They’re my last and only hope. If I can’t help her, I don’t know what I’ll do.

She’s all I have left in the world. After our parents died, I had to grow up fast to be strong for Kara. Without her, I don’t know what my purpose is. I feel as adrift as this boat as I think about losing her.

I only stay at the encampment for her. If not for Kara I might have run away long ago. I wouldn’t have minded being like Amanda and joining an elven merchant ship to explore the world, or making my way down south, to Ter, where I’ve heard there’s a safe place for humans.

Kara was always too sickly to leave the orc camp, though. She was always prone to the odd cold or infection and struggled with sickness of the lungs from time to time. She even had a bad reaction to an insect bite once. Old Agatha had to cook something up that took the swelling down.

I’m glad I left Kara in her hands. Agatha has been something like a grandmother figure to all the children of our village, growing up. It isn’t uncommon for children to lose their parents in mining accidents or to Miner’s Lung.

I was resourceful enough to get us by when our parents died but I knew Kara, on her own, wouldn’t have made it. That’s why I have to help her. She needs me. She will always need me and I need to stay at the mining camp for her.

I’m so lost in my thoughts that I don’t even notice when the boat hits the shores of the island, scraping along the sharp, jagged rocks. It startles me out of my thoughts, making me jump. I sit up, guiding the boat to a nearby outcropping, where I can tie it to a large rock.

I guide the hoqin out of the boat, loading up my satchel with what supplies I can carry, looping the bladder around my shoulder as well.

Climbing on the hoqin once more, I scan the island. It’s much bigger than the stories made it seem. Perhaps no one got close enough to map it out? I take in a deep breath, struggling with the weight of the humidity in the air.

It’s warm here, very hot. Hot enough for beads of perspiration to dot my brow as we travel along the rocky shoreline. There’s also ash everywhere, sending up little clouds of dust under our feet as we move.

I glance up, looking at the volcano. There’s no signs yet of any life. I need to travel further inland to find the Dragons, I’m sure. That is, if they even exist. I’m starting to doubt the stories. Have I traveled all this way for nothing?

Squaring my shoulders, I decide that until I’ve explored every inch of the island, I won’t call off my mission just yet.

5

Angurus

Ifeel something prickling at my skin, rippling over me as I blink myself awake. Consciousness comes quickly as I look around my environment, wondering for a moment where I am.

It’s been so long since I was awake that I’ve nearly forgotten. I’m inside of my cave, the place I claimed as my own long before the other dragons claimed their own spots on the island.

There weren’t many of us at first. After so many died in the battles with the Vrakken, the few of us left fled. So many were taken that it was a long while before our population grew at all.

There were hardly any female dragons. The Hearthkeeper seemed to want only the strongest fighters, so it made sense that she only selected the strongest of our race, including the few strongest women. This meant that mating wasn’t really a thing that happened, at least among our people.

I disagreed with their stance on mating. If the Hearthkeeper desired the strongest fighters, the strongest dragons should have been mates. It didn’t matter what I thought, however. So the second, and even the third generation were birthed by unmated sires and dams and everyone grew up in a communal environment.

Hence why I stayed high up in the mountains. I didn’t get along with my fellow dragons the way the others did. The populace considered me grumpy and bitter, but I preferred to think of myself as independent-minded. I didn’t need others to function. I was happy being on my own, waiting for my freedom from this island.

We quickly learned that dragon-elves lives are shortened by the amount of magic needed to sustain our forms. We only live a few centuries before dying out. As a younger elf when I was turned, I was now one of the elder dragons on the island, despite knowing I would be a young adult still if I had been left in my original form.

It’s why I am so much more attuned to our land. I can feel the way it thrums with magic. I can feel when the magic shifts and changes. Like right now—I’m certain the thrum of energy I felt is real, not just the lingering remnants of my dreams.

I cock my head, letting the magic wash over me once more, feeling for the subtle changes. There it is; it’s like a note out of tune or a soldier out of step. It’s hitting me harder now.

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