Prologue: Smoke and Dust

Kalvin pulled his bounty closer to his chest, cradling the large egg like a mother her child, or a thief his bag of gold. His initial sprint for safety had grown into a hobble as stray gravel and small rocks cut his bare feet at every step he took. One corridor equaled the next and only by repeating the directions like a mantra could he find the way out.

After a few more junctions, when he thought himself safe, he leaned against the wall and drew in great amounts of stagnant, heavy cave air. Beads of sweat rolled down from his receding hairline, crossed his cheek, and dropped on the pale blue egg in his arms. Claws scraped over the sandstone floor behind him. They would not give him any rest. He forced himself to stand once more. Hot blood snaked down his thigh as the strain forced barely healed wounds back open.

A faint light globe, inserted into the opposite wall, illuminated the junction up ahead. Two more corners until he saw the sun again. Two more corners to freedom. He forced himself to advance until he staggered to a stop at the end. Go right, he recalled the path. Before he could finish his thought, the snap of a leather whip against stone echoed through the dim darkness. Kalvin ducked and felt the gust of wind as the beast’s head shot past his neck and closed its maw around nothing.

A blood red eye fixated him and he scrambled to his feet, but the beast was faster, snaked its head back around and bit into his underarm. White-hot pain pierced his body, and the egg dropped to the floor with a heavy thud. Kalvin delivered a swift jab to the head of the beast. His knuckles struck something warm and squishy. Without as much as a second of hesitation, he lashed out once more, harder. It tightened its grip, the sharp teeth digging into his very bone. He retracted his arm for another punch.

“Hold him down!” Kalvin struck with his right, hitting only air this time, and opened his eyes with a scream. Somebody grabbed his shoulders and pinned him to the damp cloth clinging to his back.

Mat’s ever cheerful face smiled down on him, but he wasn’t himself. That smile wasn’t natural. It looked forced. A fresh scar ran along his cheek, parting his stubbly red beard. The fat on his bones had all but vanished over the last weeks, making his face sharper and slimmer. Mat faced away. “He woke up! That’s a good sign, isn’t it? Mariny?”

A nightmare. Those images were but memories. He had escaped from that place, from that dank cave, from her. She could not hurt him anymore. “C-course I’m awake,” Kalvin stammered, in tact with his racing heart. He reached up to wipe the sweat off his forehead, but his left arm would not move. A tight belt held it to the side of the bed. Dried blood and yellow puss stained the brown cotton bandage crudely wrapped around the bite. The flesh beneath had turned a sickly purple. Only now did he feel it pulse and throb, as if it were about to burst open.

“You kept lashing out, and we figured we should keep your arm still,” Mat said and vanished from his sight.

Kalvin tried to turn his head, but his muscles did not obey. An iron grip constricted his throat. “W-what happened?” His voice was barely a whisper. The wooden ceiling above him blurred as memories of the past days flooded his mind.

He found himself back in the dark cell, his stomach forced against the cold, hard wood. Pale blue wings flickered in front of his minds-eye and his heart raced as they left his vision, anticipating pain to follow. The bruises on his back flared up again like embers in a dying fire. The taste of tanned leather spread through his mouth as though he still bit down on the wooden rod. Above all else was her laugh, her deranged, snorting laugh that followed him through sleepless nights and echoed through his nightmares.

“You remember getting bit in the escape, right?” Mat asked, and his voice dragged Kalvin back to reality. “They should’ve brushed their teeth a little more often. I’m not a doctor, but it looks bad. Like, really bad. You are going to die, bad.” Mat grabbed a thin, long knife from beyond the bed and flourished it.

Breathing got difficult. “You want to amputate my arm, don’t you?” Kalvin wheezed. This was not a decision baby-faced Mat should have to make. It should be his. He was their captain. Kalvin forced his eyes back to his swollen arm. “I hope you got more than that flimsy knife.”

Bottles clinked, and the sharp stench of alcohol filled the room. A second later, Mat pressed the rim of a cold glass bottle against Kalvin’s lips. “Drink, makes it better.” The burning liquid filled his mouth, and he forced himself to swallow, again and again, until his throat went numb.

“I told you so,” Mariny’s voice echoed from beyond the staircase. “Such a stupid idea.” She staggered to the side of his bed, propped herself up with one arm, snatched the bottle with her other, and took a big swig. “Let’s not waste it on a dead man. You are damn lucky my brother made it out nearly unscathed. I wouldn’t have come back for you.”

She took another deep gulp. “Buying Smoke directly from her, how did you think that would go?” Mariny brushed her rebellious strands of hair backwards with the bottle in hand, spilling it all over the bed and herself.

“Mariny,” Kalvin started.

“No! Don’t even start. It’s only us left. We were a band of nine. Nine! You broke your perfect record Kalv, and oh, how you broke it.” She emptied the rest of the bottle in one go and hiccuped. “Maybe we’ll add one more if Mat can’t keep the knife steady and even then, good luck.”

Mat pried the empty bottle from his sister’s hands and set it down on the side table with a smack. “This could’ve been the haul of our lifetime. We could’ve been rich.”

“Could have been,” she sneered, “If someone’s informant had pointed out. Hey, you know that place? There is also this MURDEROUS FUCKIN PSYCHOPATH DRAGON ruling it,” Mariny yelled, picked up the bottle and threw it against the nearest wall. It burst into a thousand pieces and added to the stench of alcohol permeating the room.

She sat down at the edge of the bed and shook the stray drops of liquid from her hand. “The things she did to us, she must have hated us.” Her gaze drooped downwards. “But you, Kalv, what she did to you, she must have despised you. You are barely even a man anymore.”

Mat grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. “Mariny, that is uncalled for!” He released his grip and she crossed her arms. “It wasn’t his fault, and we got something out of it,” Mat said, “And if it wasn’t for Dust, we’d be dead too. So shut up and help me with his arm.”

Kalvin could not remember ever hearing Mat yell at his sister. Not once in all the years they worked together, he’d always seen them as one inseparable entity.

Mariny sighed loudly and took refuge in the room’s corner. “Yes, Dust. Our great savior. His plan only got six of us killed, wohoo. He is an idiot. You are idiots. We are all idiots!”

“Maybe you should choose the next deal if you know better,” Kalvin hissed between stings of pain alternating from his arm and back. “We all agreed on this and we all deal with it now.”

Mariny snorted and picked up their only haul from the corner. She lifted it with both arms and carried it up to the bed, only to sway it threateningly above Kalvin’s head. It’s pale-blue color mixed with the air and left a trail of afterimages.

“This is surely going to save us. Why did you steal a damn egg?” She tapped the shell with one finger, listening to the hollow sound it made. “Shell’s growing pretty thin. Give it a few more weeks and we are slavers. Or worse, parents.” She grunted and set it down on the side-table.

Kalvin remembered the room, her room. There had been nothing of value, no jewelry, no Smoke, no gold, no coin, nothing but this egg sitting on a cushion in the corner. And then he took it, for money or revenge. He did not remember. “I could not leave empty-handed, the costs-”

“The costs!” Mariny yelled and shook the bed. “Captain, I’m about to mutiny. We are smugglers, not kidnappers. That is somebody’s child in there!”

“Stop it, both of you,” Mat interrupted and for a second, only the soft rumble of the engines filled the room.

Kalvin was still their captain, and even though his mind was fuzzy and befuddled by the alcohol taking effect, he was responsible for them. “We sell it to the first person dumb enough to buy it, or throw it overboard straight away. Smuggling Smoke to Sawaila is one thing, but this? Maybe we should head back to Prina and-”

“We are not returning to the great desert,” Mariny said, “Might as well go back to her and gamble on what she will cut off next.”

“And where do you suggest we sell it if not in Prina? Sawaila would hang us,” Mat said.

Mariny paced up and down the room. “North, far, far north beyond the border. Far away from the desert, far away from the kingdom, far away from any place that would recognize us. Some of those villages are so backwards you can sell them a male arrowtail and they wouldn’t even figure out why it doesn’t lay any eggs.”

After a few seconds of consideration, Mat nodded hesitantly. “I don’t like it. I don’t like any of this, but what else are we supposed to do? Captain, your answer?”

A nauseating thought filled Kalvin’s stomach. What if they ate it? He shook himself. Even they knew the difference between dragon and wyvern. Nobody would have to know what they did if the three of them kept quiet. This was a onetime misstep.

The knife clattered over the floor. Mat went pale and turned all attention to the egg in question. “This is much worse than stealing an egg, isn’t it?” He slid his finger along the smooth, elongated shell. “It is an Aer egg with a shell as pale-blue as the desert sky.” He swallowed. “It’s hers, isn’t it? You actually stole her egg?”

“That’s what I said the whole time,” Mariny reprimanded her brother. “If she captures us again, she’ll skin us alive and turn us into human leather cushions. Probably one of the nicer options too.” Mariny straightened up and turned to leave. “If you need me, I’ll be steering this god forsaken flying tub of idiocy and jump overboard if I spot her. I’ll take my chances in the great nothing rather than facing her.”

“That leaves only us.” Mat picked up the knife. “I really don’t feel good about it, but the egg will fetch enough to keep afloat for a while, hire a few new guys, I know one-” His voice faded to the edge of Kalvin’s hearing and a stillness took hold of his body. “Captain?”