“I’ll lead you to them,” Raff said, “but what about, uhm?”
She didn’t have to see him to know he was pointing at Bhrava Saruth. In the dark, with the dragon resting on all fours, he appeared like a big boulder on the slope.
Will your people not welcome and adore me? Bhrava Saruth asked. I am extremely helpful.
“They may be wary of dragons right now,” Taylina said. “We’ve actually never had a helpful one visit our town. Can you assume a less daunting shape?”
She had the dog in mind, but when the boulder disappeared, another human figure took its shape, a man about Raff’s size.
“Now I can speak to your people as humans speak,” Bhrava Saruth said.
Taylina rubbed her neck, debating whether that was a good thing or not. She had imagined Bhrava Saruth staying quiet until she had a chance to explain him, but he might not know how to stay quiet. A telepathic dog would probably be more alarming to the others than a slightly odd human. Though, right now, her people would be highly suspicious of strangers of any kind.
“Will you be speaking to them while naked?” Raff poked Bhrava Saruth’s bare arm.
Taylina blushed. Thanks to the dimness, she hadn’t realized he was naked, but she could see that his silhouette was smooth, devoid of clothing altering the lines.
“Is that not acceptable?” Bhrava Saruth asked.
“It’s unorthodox,” Taylina said.
“I did not wear clothes as the dog.” He genuinely sounded puzzled. Maybe shape-shifting never involved the creation of clothes, or maybe he had never noticed that humans usually wore clothes in public.
“If you can’t magic any into existence,” she said, “it might be better for you to walk up to the group as a dog.”
“Oh, here,” Raff grumbled, and pulled his shirt over his head. “Wear that. It’s long enough that it should cover your immodest parts.”
“Immodest?” Bhrava Saruth asked.
“I don’t think he has any modest parts,” Taylina said.
“Gods need not be modest. The world should know of our magnificence.”
“You’ll scare Taylina’s mother with your magnificence. Here, cover that up.” Raff thrust the shirt at him.
Bhrava Saruth looked down at it, turning it over in his hands.
“Why do you think you’re a god, Bhrava Saruth?” Taylina asked, reaching out and showing him the bottom of the shirt. “That goes over your head, and your arms go through there.” She was careful not to touch anything but the shirt. Her mother wasn’t the only one who could be embarrassed by male anatomy. She hadn’t seen much of it in her life.
“I told you,” he said, his voice muffled as he struggled to pull the shirt over his head. “I have always known I am different from other dragons. I care about the lesser species! I wish to be adored by them.”
“Lesser?” Raff murmured.
“No worse than lowly,” Taylina said.
“That was a joke. He’s serious. Seriously oblivious.”
Taylina tugged the hem of the shirt down since Bhrava Saruth was struggling. “You probably need to have worshippers to be a god,” she said, hoping to dissuade him from such thinking. If he started talking about his godliness and magnificence to her people, they might flee from him. Or shoot him. Were dragons able to deflect arrows when they shape-shifted into forms without mass and scales? “A god is part of a religion, right?” she added. “But isn’t a religion dead if there aren’t any devotees?”
“I have longed for worshippers for years,” Bhrava Saruth said, finally getting the shirt situated. It wasn’t as long on him as Raff might have hoped. “Do you think your people would like to worship me?”
“Uh.” That was not where she had wanted to lead him. “Let’s get rid of the Cofah first. My people might be grateful to you if you’re instrumental in that.”
“Excellent!” His step perky, Bhrava Saruth led the way across the slope.
“Is he going the right direction?” Taylina asked.
“He is. You get to be the one to explain to your family that they’re about to adopt a new religion.”
“I just hope they’re all there and safe.”
Taylina hurried to catch up with Bhrava Saruth.
The occasional alarmed shout or cry of pain drifted up from the town, making her want to take her staff down there and club the invaders, but they needed a better strategy than that to deal with so many.
Bhrava Saruth turned into a shallow gully, and Taylina, familiar with the terrain, remembered a couple of caves along it. She struggled to place her staff—and her feet—carefully as they clambered inland along a wash through the middle. She did not want to be mistaken for an enemy and shot by their own people.
“I’ve let your father know we’re coming,” Raff said. “He was alarmed by having me speak telepathically to him, but he’s relieved that you’re all right.”
“Good, thanks. Did you mention Bhrava Saruth?”
“I mentioned a refugee. You can explain the god thing.”
“Ah.”
Bhrava Saruth stopped abruptly before they reached any of the caves, and Taylina almost bumped into his back.
“Dragon,” he whispered. “Duck.” He waved toward the scrub brush to the side of the wash and pushed his way into it. “My kind have excellent eyes, even at night.”
Taylina crawled between two bushes, the pointed leaves and dry branches scraping at her clothes and face. Wood snapped as Raff wedged himself in beside her. She grimaced at the noise. Dragons probably had good ears, too, and the roar of the surf was not very loud up here.
A winged shape soared over the gully and turned to fly up its length. The dragon looked like it was searching for something it believed to be in the area. There did not appear to be a rider on its back. Maybe the sorcerers had gone to sleep out on those warships.
“Can he sense you?” Taylina whispered as the dragon flew farther inland. After all, Bhrava Saruth had known it was coming before it had shown up in the sky.
“I am still doing my best to dampen my aura to avoid their detection from a distance,” Bhrava Saruth said. “Being in this form helps.”
“Will they sense you from up close?” Raff asked.
“Yes. I can only do so much to hide my presence. A dragon’s greatness always shines through.”
“As does its ego, I imagine.”
Taylina would have cuffed him—they did not need to insult their ally—but the dragon in the sky had turned around and was soaring in their direction again. She shrank back deeper into the brush. Maybe bringing Bhrava Saruth to see her people was a mistake. What if his presence caused the dragon to find them? If she led the Cofah right to her family… She winced at the idea. She wanted to help, not make matters worse.
The dragon followed the gully out to the harbor, then banked and disappeared from sight.
“He may just have had a hunch,” Bhrava Saruth said. “That was the silver. I could have battled him and perhaps driven him away, but we are so close to the other two that they would have come to help within seconds. And then I would be the one driven away.” He climbed out of the bushes.
“We don’t want that,” Taylina said.
“No, this island is peaceful and quaint. I like it here. I could find worshippers who could build me a temple where they could come visit me and bring me offerings.”
Raff groaned and slapped Taylina on the back as they started up the wash again. “Why did you put that idea in his head?”
“I… am fairly certain that wasn’t my idea.”
“You started it. And then he extrapolated. I don’t even want to know what kinds of offerings he has in mind. Virgins, no doubt.”
“I’m actually quite fond of pastries,” Bhrava Saruth said over his shoulder. “The cave is right up there.”
“Raff knows how to bake many kinds of sweets,” Taylina said. “Perhaps you’ll want to rethink taking him on as a rider.”
“Let me go ahead of you,” Raff said, pu
shing past her and grabbing Bhrava Saruth so he couldn’t lead the way into the cave. “Our people should see a familiar face first.”
Bhrava Saruth, perhaps busy fantasizing about temples and pastries, did not argue.
Even with the rough terrain impeding her, Taylina also pushed ahead of him, eager to see her brother and her parents and whoever else had made it to this refuge. With a population of less than five thousand people on the island, there were few she would consider strangers.
“Tay?” a soft voice called as they approached the cave.
“Father,” she blurted, recognizing him immediately.
She stumbled forward, almost crashing into dead branches that had been pulled across the entrance of the little cave. Her staff grew tangled in them, and she dropped it with frustration as her father moved the obstacles. A lantern burned at the back of the tiny cave, and Taylina glimpsed grimy people with ripped clothing gathered around it before her father pulled her into a hug, pressing her face into his shoulder.
“Taylina, where have you been?” came her mother’s voice from inside.
Emotion tightened Taylina’s throat, and she could not find the words to answer. Raff stood to the side. His grandmother had been the one to care for him when he’d been growing up, his parents having been merchants who had been lost at sea when he was young, but she had been gone these last few years. Taylina tried to wave him over, certain her parents would hug him or at least clasp his hand too. But her parents, and everyone else, had noticed Bhrava Saruth.
He stood in the cave entrance, peering around curiously, Raff’s shirt just covering his immodest parts. Since he carried no weapon—or even trousers and shoes—he shouldn’t have looked dangerous, but as in his other forms, there was a power about him, an alienness that could make a person uneasy. He might be dampening his aura, but something was still there, something that proclaimed him Other.
“Who is this, Raff?” Father asked, lowering one arm but keeping Taylina close with the other, almost putting himself between her and Bhrava Saruth.
In his early fifties, and muscled from his carpentry work, her father was a fit man, and he never shied from trouble. Taylina was almost surprised he was here and hadn’t tried to round up the townspeople to attack the Cofah, but maybe he had seen that there were too many. Or maybe he’d been too worried about getting his family away from the fighting. His family and those who weren’t strong enough to handle brutality from the Cofah—most of the faces around the lantern belonged to women and children. A few of them were lying down, makeshift bandages covering wounds. An ugly gash marked one boy’s face, as if he’d been slashed with a sword. Taylina did not see her brother.
“That’s Taylina’s new friend,” Raff said, lifting his hands as if to say he had nothing to do with the entire affair.
“I don’t think this is the time to collect new friends,” Father said, frowning at her, then frowning even more deeply at Bhrava Saruth’s bare legs. “He’s not from Brinwell.”
“He must be Cofah,” someone whispered near the lantern.
“Taylina.” Her mother said, propping her fists on her hips and assuming the lecture stance. Mother could go from hug to lecture in less than a second.
“He’s a dragon,” Taylina blurted, hoping to forestall the lecture—and any other objections.
Mouths dropped open around the cave.
“Taylina,” Mother said sternly. “I thought Jessa was the one we had to worry about being tricked by strangers. Surely, you’re older and wiser, and know better than to trust new people. Especially right now.” She flung a hand in the direction of the harbor. “He must have come with the Cofah.”
“I don’t know,” Father murmured. “The Cofah usually outfit their people slightly better. Raff, is that your shirt?”
“Yes, sir. Apparently, dragons don’t come with clothes.”
“Dragons,” someone muttered. “He’s pretty, but he’s no dragon. He’s…” The older woman squinted at Bhrava Saruth, as if she was trying to put her finger on what exactly he might be.
“Bhrava Saruth,” Taylina said, hoping she was going about this the right way. “Could you show them some of your magnificence?”
I am the god, Bhrava Saruth, he announced, using his mind speech rather than his human lips. He flung out his arms, as if he’d been waiting patiently—or not so patiently—to share the news.
Several peopled gasped and looked around.
“Did you hear that?” a woman asked, touching her temple.
“He’s the dragon, Bhrava Saruth,” Taylina corrected. “Since he doesn’t have worshippers yet, we’ve decided he should wait to proclaim his godhood.”
Bhrava Saruth tilted his head like a dog, giving her a puzzled look.
“I met him when he was visiting Bergethor,” Taylina went on—her mother’s mouth was open, and she looked like she was about to launch into a diatribe of one kind or another.
“Visiting?” Bhrava Saruth asked. “I was imprisoned by his cowardly deceptiveness.”
Father’s grip tightened on Taylina’s shoulder. “You went over to the other side of the island? Why? Were you chased?”
“No, I went to get us help. Bergethor wasn’t willing to help, but Bhrava Saruth is.” Taylina lifted her chin. “We plan to get rid of the Cofah.”
“Don’t be foolish, girl,” one of the elders said. “Did you see how many ships and dragons they brought? Their soldiers are everywhere. We’re not a warrior people. We have to just hide and wait for them to leave.”
“What if they never leave?” Taylina asked.
“There’s no reason why they would stay here.”
“They’re staying everywhere. They’ve invaded Iskandoth completely, and their threats of the last decades are finally coming true. They’re going to make this part of the empire.”
Father stroked his beard, glanced at Bhrava Saruth, then studied her. “How do you know what’s going on over on the mainland? There haven’t been any couriers.”
“Bhrava Saruth came from the mainland,” she said. “He knows.”
Sensing the doubt in the cave, Taylina nodded to Bhrava Saruth. “Can you turn into yourself for a minute? So they can see you?”
“I will have a harder time hiding my aura from the other dragons in my true form,” he said.
“What about if you turn into a dog?”
“Hm, the change itself will use some power, and I may be sensed, but…” Bhrava Saruth gazed out across the gully for a few seconds. “The silver did go back to the ships. He may be far enough away….”
Since he still sounded dubious, Taylina added, “You may get some belly rubs out of the deal.”
“Oh,” he said, brightening visibly.
“What happens to my shirt if you change forms with it on?” Raff asked, touching his bare chest.
Bhrava Saruth plucked at it. “I believe it will… I do not know. I have never worn clothing before.”
“Can you give it back to me first then?” Raff asked. “I don’t want to lose it into the ether.”
“Certainly. I find it scratchy and uncomfortable.” Bhrava Saruth reached for the hem.
“Outside,” Taylina said, glancing at the elders and children staring at him. “Please remove it outside, and then come back in,” she added in a calmer voice after he paused.
“Will they not be more likely to believe in my dragonness if they witness my transformation?”
Taylina hesitated. He had a valid point. What if her people, none of them accustomed to seeing magic worked, believed that this was some ruse? That they had a dog waiting outside to swap out? The idea of them not trusting her stung, but she would be skeptical, too, if a stranger showed up claiming to be a dragon. It almost would have been easier to show up with Bergethor, since he was a known factor.
“All right,” she said. “Do it in here, but turn around, please. Humans like to keep their nudity to themselves.”
I do not know why, Bhrava Saruth said silently as he rotated to t
he cave entrance and removed the shirt. Glorious bodies should be admired. Gloriously. He tossed the shirt to Raff.
Not all of us have glorious bodies, she thought.
Mine is glorious. In all forms.
Before she decided if she wanted to affirm or deny that, he transformed, melting before her eyes and turning into the shaggy dog again. Gasps filled the cave, and Mother’s hands fell from her hips as she stumbled back. Bhrava Saruth bounded around, wagging his tail. He stopped in front of several children and looked expectantly at them. One shrieked, and the mothers grabbed them all, pulling them away from him.
What about the belly rubs? Bhrava Saruth’s tail drooped, and he appeared quite pitiful. Did they not notice that I healed their injured?
You did? Taylina looked toward the people lying down in the back of the cave. With the bandages on, she could not tell if their wounds had been healed, but they appeared to be sleeping restfully. The boy she had noticed before, the one with the gash across the cheek, was snuggled contented in his mother’s lap. The wound was gone. You did heal them.
Naturally. They can bring offerings of thanks later on, once we have built the temple so my new followers have a place to worship and pray.
Er, right.
Even though she had mixed feelings about the temple, Taylina waved for Bhrava Saruth to come over. He was helping them. He deserved some pats if that was what pleased him.
“We need to come up with a plan,” she told her father, who had watched the shape-shifting with a stern expression.
He, at least, hadn’t scurried into the back of the cave like everyone else. “I don’t know that it’s possible to drive so many Cofah away,” he said. “Even with…” He waved vaguely at Bhrava Saruth.
“A dragon,” Taylina said firmly.
A god, Bhrava Saruth correctly her silently.
From the way people exchanged nervous glances, she had a feeling everyone was hearing his silent comments.
“Better to wait for them to leave, or at least lessen the number of troops and dragons they have here, and then strike,” Father said. “But we are missing some people.”