By Cynthia Wilfert
Eric marveled at the pink hues of sunrise as they sailed through the sky. “Maybe dawn patrols aren’t so bad,” he said.
Then his stomach lurched as his draconic partner dove.
“Verity!” he yelped, his voice climbing to an octave more befitting a young girl than an officer in the king’s air corps.
She leveled out over the lake. Eric clung to the harness, focusing on the reflection of Verity’s purplish scales sailing above the water as he fought to keep his breakfast down.
“We agreed—no acrobatics so early in the morning!”
“You did not define ‘early.’ The sun is up,” she said in her sonorous voice, gliding onto the pebbled beach.
“Barely.” Eric stumbled as he dismounted. Verity steadied him with a wing, her attention fixed on the surrounding trees.
Eric glanced around. “Why did you decide to test me like that?”
“It’s good for you.” Verity cocked her head, bat-like ears at attention. “But also, I heard a cry for help.”
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“Well, you have tiny ears.”
“Not funny.” Eric sighed. “Who’s in distress?”
“I don’t know.” Her slit-pupiled eyes narrowed. “The language is new to me.”
Eric frowned. Verity could converse across species lines. She knickered with horses, clucked with chickens, and even screamed with a bobcat. They’d yet to come across an animal with whom she couldn’t communicate. Until now.
“A migratory species?” he suggested.
“Doubtful.”
“Hmm. Maybe it’s that unicorn you’re always looking for.”
She raised her chin and gazed down her snout at him. “That’s not so far-fetched! After all, some human cultures still believe dragons are myths.”
He grinned. “Fair enough.”
“But this did not sound as I’d imagine a unicorn might. It was… unpleasant.”
They roamed the edges of the lake but found nothing. Eric was about to suggest Verity take flight and skim the trees when a shrill wail grated even Eric’s “tiny” ears.
They traced the sound, and Eric ventured into the forest alone. Verity was small for a dragon, about twice the size of a horse, but she still wouldn’t fit through the tangled underbrush.
She remained on the beach, calling “helpful” instructions.
Eric pushed through the foliage and stopped when he found the source of the call at the base of a coniferous tree.
It was the ugliest creature he’d ever seen.
The size of a human toddler, but with sallow skin and sunken eyes. Its face twisted in a hideous expression as it cried, and long skeletal limbs reached up in a pitiful plea.
His duty was to give aid, no matter how ugly the victim, and this creature didn’t seem like a threat. Eric gritted his teeth, reminded himself he was a good soldier, and scooped the thing up into his arms.
“There, there,” he soothed, swallowing his revulsion as it burrowed its cold, sticky face against his neck.
At least it stopped squalling.
He returned to Verity.
She drew back, lip curling. “What is that?”
“I’d hoped you’d know.”
A rustling in the trees several yards away drew their attention. A woman emerged. She glanced around, her face lighting up when she spotted them. “Harmony!”
Eric blinked. His lips parted and he gaped as she came closer.
“You found my baby! I am Lyriana.” The sunlight made her golden hair sparkle as she offered a radiant smile. When she spoke, her words danced in the air like skilled fingers coaxing melodies from a harp. “Harmony slipped away from me. Thank you for rescuing her.”
“Um… yes, of course…” Eric stammered. How could such an ugly thing belong to this ravishing woman?
Although, when he glanced at the child again, she didn’t look quite so hideous. Her skin seemed to pinken, cheeks plumping. As she smiled, he couldn’t help smiling back.
Verity suddenly gave him a firm shove with her snout.
He stumbled. “Hey!”
“Put it down and get behind me,” Verity ordered.
Eric stared at her. “What?”
Lyriana opened her arms, recapturing his focus. “Please bring her to me.”
Eric nodded, swaying forward. He felt strangely weak, as if he were moving through molasses. But he’d swim a sea of tar to obey her.
“You’re welcome to join us,” she sang.
Verity hissed and shoved her head between them. “He’s mine.”
Lyriana’s smile sharpened. “He has free will. Let him choose.”
A warning puff of smoke billowed from Verity’s nostrils. “I will not. It is my duty to protect him. And you cheat.”
Verity snatched the child from Eric’s grasp. Harmony dangled from the dragon’s teeth by her tunic, wailing and thrashing. Verity dropped her into Lyriana’s arms. Then she swept Eric to her side and wrapped him in her wing.
“Verity!” Eric struggled weakly.
“You treat him like a child, dragon.”
“Better than you treat your child, using it as bait. I won’t torch you, for the little one’s sake. But if either of you approach him again, I won’t be so kind.”
Lyriana’s eyes lingered on Eric. “What a shame.”
Verity’s chest rumbled.
Lyriana twisted her lips. She hefted Harmony onto her hip and stormed off.
Verity released Eric after they had disappeared and the trees stopped rustling. She coiled her neck to peer at him. “Are you better now?”
He shifted away from her, drawing in several measured breaths. Only when his head cleared did he realize how muddled his thoughts had become. “What were they?”
“Sirens,” Verity spat. “They must grow into their powers. The child likely reflected their true form.”
“But… sirens are just myths.”
“This ‘myth’ nearly carried you off to a watery grave.”
Eric remembered Harmony’s arms coiled around his neck and the sickly-sweet weakness he’d felt. He shuddered. “Let’s get back to patrol. We might stumble across your unicorn yet.”
Verity snorted. “No more legendary creatures! With your luck, it would be carnivorous.”
Eric grinned. “Then it’s a good thing I’ve got my dragon.”
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