“But all they wanted you to do was bring the flute and you’ve done so much more. Tell me, where are you going next? Can we at least give you a ride in our ship?”
“Thank you, but it will be quicker if I fly,” said Audun. “I’m returning to King’s Isle. I’m helping the king so he’ll agree to teach me how to become a human.”
“Really? How very odd. Why would you want to do something like that?”
“Well, there’s this human girl . . . ,” Audun began.
“You’re doing it for love! That’s wonderful! Perhaps we can help!” Mona exclaimed. “Wait right here!”
Audun had no idea what the giant woman had in mind, and he was even more confused when she returned with a barrel in her arms.
“Here,” she said, setting it in front of Audun. “Take this with you. It’s a lotion I make myself. Giants have a very strong odor, but we don’t like it any more than anyone else does. Slather some of this lotion all over yourself and you’ll no longer smell like a dragon. We’ve known a few dragons who can turn into humans. Even when they have a human body, they still smell like dragons unless they use this. You won’t have to use it often; once every few years should suffice.”
“Thank you!” said Audun. “I never would have thought of this. Are you sure you can spare the whole barrel?”
Hugo laughed, making the ground shake along with his stomach. “That’s one thing we’ll never have in short supply!”
“I can always make more if we run out, which shouldn’t be for years,” Mona said. “Thank you again, Audun. We’ll be forever in your debt.”
Placing the barrel in the net he’d used to carry Penelope, Audun said farewell and rose into the air. Although he’d been working hard to do whatever the king and his council had asked of him, this was the first thing anyone had done to help him be like a real human. He wanted to stop running errands for everyone else and start on his own task. As soon as he got back to the island, he’d tell the king and his council that it was time he learned how to be a human.
Thirteen
Audun wasn’t surprised when Frostybreath met him at the entrance, but he didn’t expect the dragon to lead him down an extra level to Song of the Glacier’s rooms. His grandmother was waiting for him and she greeted him with delight. “I knew you could do it! We saw part of your actions in Wave Skimmer’s bowl of water. I’m so proud of you, Audun. All you went through to help that little girl!”
“She wasn’t so little,” Audun murmured, stretching to relieve the stiffness in his back. “I’ve worked hard to do what the king asked of me. Would someone either teach me how to be a human or tell me that I’m free to go see Millie?”
“That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about,” said his grandmother. “It has come to my attention that a young dragoness is interested in having you as her mate. You need no longer worry about learning to be a human just to win a mate for yourself. There have never been as many female dragons born as there were males, which is why many male dragons live their entire lives as bachelors. That need not be the case for you, however. If you are willing to forgo this scheme of yours to woo a human, you could have a marvelous and long life with a true dragoness.”
“It’s Hildie, isn’t it?” asked Audun. “But that’s just it. I already know that Millie is the one I want as my mate. She is a true dragoness and a true human. She is the one I love. I don’t love Hildie. She doesn’t stir my heart the way Millie does. I don’t lie awake at night thinking about Hildie; the last dragoness I think about before I fall asleep and the first one I think about when I wake is Millie. I thought you, of all dragonesses, would understand.”
His grandmother sighed. “Ah, but I do. I just thought you should know that you have a choice. If the girl is your true love, you are already on a path that you cannot change. Now, do you really still want to learn how to be-come a human?”
“Yes, of course!” said Audun. “I mean, I’m glad I got Millie’s mother’s approval, but there’s still the rest of her family. And there’s so much more of Millie’s life that I can share if I can be a human with her.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” said his grandmother. “There’s something I want to tell you that we should have told you long before this. We had you find the baby desicca bird because we wanted to make sure that you would be the best kind of human before we showed you how to be one at all. Turning into a human is easy, once you know what to do. The ability is inside every dragon, but not every dragon is capable of being a good one. However, you excelled at the task, and you did something else that we hadn’t expected. You learned things while you were in Aridia that our regular contacts should have relayed to us. It wasn’t until you told us about the fighting in Desidaria that we knew our contacts were in trouble. We have strong ties to Aridia; it’s where the gem mine I told you about is located. Any upheaval in the kingdom affects us as well.
“When you came back with the egg containing the baby desicca bird, King Stormclaw saw how useful you could be to us. After that, he stopped testing you and has been giving you jobs that we’ve needed someone to do, only we’re so shorthanded that we don’t have anyone we can send.”
Audun was incredulous. “You mean the king tricked me?”
“I mean we’ve needed your help and, at this point, we need you to learn how to become a human. You are the only one capable of going on a very delicate and important mission. Are you ready to learn how to make the transformation?”
Audun’s heart began to beat faster as he realized what she was asking. “I sure am!”
His grandmother cleared her throat. “I was fortunate enough to be selected to help you.” Opening her talons, she revealed a ring bearing a large, green stone surrounded by smaller, red ones. “This will help you become a human the first few times you change. After that, your body will remember the way and you will no longer need the ring. At that point, all you’ll have to do is will it to happen. For now, however, put this on.”
Audun trembled as he took the ring from Song and slid it over a talon. He was examining the ring when his grandmother stepped so close that their foreheads were touching. “Now, I want you to close your eyes and think about what it is that you want to become. Think about being a human—with only two legs, no wings, no scales, no ridge . . .”
Audun laughed self-consciously. “You make it sound as if I will be losing so much and gaining nothing.”
“You understand at last,” his grandmother said, but her voice was only a whisper because Audun was already beginning to change.
What began as a hum inside his head grew louder and louder until he could hear nothing else. His heart had already been beating rapidly, but now it beat so hard that he feared it was about to pound itself right out of his chest. After the air in his lungs left his body in a whoosh, he found that he was unable to take a truly deep breath. When his muscles began to change and the skin beneath his scales to burn, he staggered and would have fallen if his grandmother hadn’t been there to hold him up.
“Open your eyes,” she said finally, only this time her voice was loud and clear.
When he did, everything had changed. His grandmother, who had always seemed small and delicate, now appeared huge and powerful beside him. His own body was small and helpless now, with his head reaching only as high as her chest and the span of both his arms together shorter than the length of her neck. He stood upright on only two legs, with a spine that held his head high. Raising the hand that bore the ring, he found that he had hair on the top of his head and ears on the sides. He had a nose instead of a snout, which struck him as funny. When he tried to speak, his voice came out sounding rough and raw. Although his ears were different, he could still hear well, although not as well as when he had been a dragon. His eyesight was different, too; things weren’t nearly as distinct and colors didn’t look the same.
“Try walking,” said Song, her voice sounding loud in his ears even though she had moved to the far side of the room.
; He moved a foot forward, but his joints didn’t behave the way he expected them to and he had to grab hold of a table to keep from falling. The smooth wood felt odd and he realized that skin without scales was much more sensitive to texture. He took another step and, with his grandmother’s encouragement, began to walk around the room, to stop and touch things, to look at them from a whole new angle. The furniture seemed bigger now, the room itself enormous, but as he stepped from one place to another he began to feel more in control.
“What do I look like?” he asked, running his fingers through his hair.
“See for yourself,” said his grandmother. “There is a mirror in the drawer of that table.”
Audun struggled to pull the mirror out of the drawer. Although it would have been small for a dragon, it was big and awkward for a human. He needed to use both arms to carry it to a chair where he propped it up so he could get a good look at himself. Taking a step back, he studied his reflection. Audun’s shoulder-length hair was silvery white. He had a strong chin and prominent cheekbones, just as he did as a dragon. His eyes were the same vivid blue they had been in his dragon form, although he laughed to see eyebrows on his face. “I know all humans have these,” he said, tracing one eyebrow with a fingertip, “but what are they for?”
Song of the Glacier shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps to keep the rain from running into their eyes? They don’t have two sets of eyelids like we do.”
“That makes sense.” Audun glanced down at his naked body, marveling at how vulnerable humans were, with nothing covering them but soft flesh. He prodded his well-muscled arm and pinched the skin on his bicep. “It’s a wonder humans can survive at all. They have nothing to protect them.”
“Except their wits,” said his grandmother. “And for most of them, that’s more than enough. Do you think you can handle walking as a human?”
“I think so,” Audun said, nodding.
“Then I want you to turn back into a dragon. You need to be able to turn both ways as quickly as possible.”
“All right,” said Audun, and he closed his eyes again.
The transformation into a dragon was easier, and when Song had him turn into a human again only a few minutes later, he found that easier still. They spent the next few hours in the room while he changed from dragon to human and back again, and the more time he spent as a human the better he became at moving as one. After a time he was able to change in either direction in the blink of an eye. When his grandmother saw that, she took the ring away.
“You need to be able to do it on your own,” she said, as she slipped the ring into a drawer in one of the tables. “A ring like that would give you away to anyone who knows what it means. And wearing an expensive-looking ring might not always be a good idea around certain humans, who are always aware of such things. Don’t forget that even though you might look like a human, you are still a dragon at heart. Humans find it easy to lie, while honor is so ingrained in dragons that only those who are sick in their heart or mind may lie easily. Be careful if you find yourself in the position where you cannot tell the truth. Only bad will come of it if you do.”
“I’ll remember,” Audun replied.
“So, are you comfortable enough as a human to go out in public as one?”
“I think so,” Audun said, wondering what Frostybreath and the others would say when they saw him.
“Then put these on.”
Audun had seen Millie change from a dragon back into a human, and each time she’d had clothes on when she became a human. As a dragon he had never worn clothes, so he’d been without them as a human as well. He supposed that he couldn’t go out in public that way. Audun’s grandmother helped him open the barrel that Mona had given to him. Dipping his hands into the barrel, he covered his body with the thick lotion that immediately soaked into his skin. Although he fumbled with the clothes at first, Song made some suggestions and he guessed the rests; he soon stood before her, dressed and ready to go.
“I had bumps on my skin before I put on the clothes,” he said, rubbing his arms through the sleeves. “I guess that happens when humans are cold.”
Song of the Glacier smiled. “You still have a lot to discover. Just don’t let it overwhelm you.” Crossing to the table, she opened another drawer and took out a small pouch. “Put this in your pocket,” she said. “You’ll need coins in order to buy anything.”
Reaching into the drawer once more, she took out a rolled- up tapestry and spread it open across the top of the table. “This is a map to the Magic Marketplace. No one knows where the marketplace is located and one may go there only through a map such as this. You’re to go to the market as a human and buy a gift for a self-indulgent person. It’s for a human male, so don’t get anything for a dragon.”
“Who is this man?” asked Audun. “Buying something for him would be easier if I knew something about him.”
“We’ve learned that our contacts were killed in the war. Because we have no other way of learning what’s going on in Desidaria, we were forced to piece together bits of information we’ve received from them in times past to learn what needs to be done now. All I know about the man for whom you’re buying the gift is that he’s the castle steward and indulges himself whenever possible.
“We’re sending you to the Magic Marketplace because you can get just about anything there and everyone likes magical gifts. In your case, you can look around while you practice walking and talking as a human. Now, remember, you’ll have to be careful not to draw undue attention to yourself or let anyone know what you really are if you want to survive. There are humans out there who hate dragons and would love to kill you while you’re weak and vulnerable.
“To get to the marketplace, all you have to do is touch the fountain pictured in the tapestry. To return, you must touch the actual fountain. There are witches at the Magic Marketplace, as well as other creatures, some who are in disguise, some who are not. Nearly everyone there has magic of some sort. Talk only when necessary, make your purchase, and return as soon as possible.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready for this,” Audun said, glancing down at his legs, which no longer seemed to want to move. “What if I forget how to be a human while I’m there?”
“You won’t,” said Song of the Glacier. “You are a dragon, no matter what you look like on the outside, and dragons can handle anything.”
Fourteen
The Magic Marketplace wasn’t at all what Audun had expected. It looked a lot like it did in the tapestry, but even a magic picture couldn’t convey the noise, the smells, or the hustle and bustle of the real thing.
There were more humans there than he had ever seen in one place, but humans weren’t the only ones who frequented the market. He saw a banshee buying ointment for red eyes and a centaur examining hoof polish at the same stand. A leprechaun was haggling with a stall owner over the price of a gold pot while only a few stalls away a nymph bought fruit from a goblin. There seemed to be more witches and wizards than anything else, but as Song had warned, not everyone was what they appeared to be.
“Move it, buddy,” a goblin said, having arrived at the market right behind him.
Audun stepped out of the way, saying, “Pardon me,” and bumped into a dog.
“Careful!” growled the dog, before stepping off the raised platform surrounding the fountain and scurrying away.
Audun climbed down the steps carefully; he hadn’t practiced with stairs and wasn’t quite sure how to do them. When he reached the cobblestones that paved the streets of the marketplace, he stopped to get his bearings. He’d seen a few stalls that interested him from the height of the fountain, but now he wasn’t sure which way to go.
He was looking around when a sultry voice called to him. “Might I interest you in some spices?” It was a witch with eyelashes and hair of real gold and a face too perfect to be real. “I have spice to make the nostrils burn and to cool a steamy temper. This one smells of a summer’s day; sniff it and you’ll hear bees buzzi
ng and feel the heat of the sun. In this basket I have moregano and lessregano. Use one to fill a glutton’s appetite and the other to make anyone hungry. Of course, I have the ordinary spices like frankincense and myrrh,” she said, pointing from one basket to the next. “Can I interest you in cinnathinamin? One teaspoon a day and you’ll lose weight in a trice. But then, I guess you wouldn’t need that, handsome.” The witch smiled and looked at him through her eyelashes in a way that might have made a normal man weak, but dragons are immune to such ploys. He shook his head and moved on.
“Maybe later,” she called after him.
“Fabric for your sweetheart?” asked the fairy at the next stall. “Think of what she’d look like in a gown made of this!” Bolts of corn silk and spiderweb lace were piled atop woven goose down and a swath of cloth made of highly colored fish scales. Cloth of gold vied for space on the table with cloths of copper and lead. The fairy shooed a mouse away from the cheesecloth, but it had already nibbled a hole in one corner.
A man who looked as if he might be part ogre called from the stand across the way, “Get your bottomless tankard here! Fill it full of ale once and it will never be empty again!” Seeing a young mother carrying an infant in one arm, while holding the hand of a small child, he crossed to the other side of his table and held up what looked like a wad of cloth. “I have bottomless diapers as well! These diapers never need changing. They’ll soak up anything . . .”
“Except the smell!” said a gnome at the stall beside his. “What you should be selling are bottomless trash cans to hold all the garbage you’re spewing.”
“Why, you little runt,” the big man growled, showing fangs half as long as his fingers. “I ought to . . . Wait a minute. A bottomless trash can . . . That’s a good idea. I can see everyone wanting one of those!”
Audun moved on, attracted by a sweet voice singing just a few stalls away. A marmoset was seated on the table, singing a song about blue skies and green leaves while a cat played a fiddle beside it. An old woman sat unmoving on a stack of crates behind the table, her eyes glazed over as if her mind was somewhere else. Audun peeked into a box on the table and was surprised to see three fully grown dogs no larger than chipmunks trying to jump out. Not one of them was making a sound, although their mouths were working as if they were barking. “Get your exotic pets!” shouted the cat with the fiddle when he saw Audun.