Squawk - Beginnings: The Dragon Games Revolution Read online

  “I’m not a bad omen?”

  “If there was a bad omen for every boy who made a mistake, the sky would be falling again. You’re a wily boy—a bit too wily for your own good, and this time it caught up with you. You’re just going to have to buckle down and brace yourself for what’s coming.”

  Gabe didn’t want to ask the next question, but he felt compelled to. “Do you want me to fetch you a switch?”

  Head tilted back against the rock, eyes closed, his father laughed. “Boy, I’m too tired to whip you now. Just rest easy. Enjoy the calm of the night before the storm arrives tomorrow.” Saul’s chin tilted over his shoulder, and he fell asleep.

  “Dad?” Gabe said softly and gave the man a nudge. “Dad?”

  Saul breathed easily, but was out otherwise.

  Gabe shifted into a cross-legged position and watched his father breathe. The hard lines in the man’s face eased. Gabe’s guilt didn’t. He was wide awake, and his thoughts were racing. What Malak had said about him being a bad omen gnawed at his brain. He clutched at the thick locks of his auburn hair. I’m such an idiot.

  His father would have to face the Dominion—even worse, the Count. In Newton, the citizens were scared of the rulers and did their best to avoid them. Of course, in most cases, the people of the Dominion—small in number so far as anyone knew—kept to themselves. They had a special wing in the compound and their own land and buildings. The Count, that was a different case. She was the Dominion’s chief enforcer, and everyone in Newton knew it.

  Gabe ripped his goggles off and slung them aside. “It’s that possum’s fault!”

  His dad’s eyes flicked open. There was a startled look in his face as if he’d woken from a bad dream. “What’s going on? What’s going on?”

  “Nothing, you just dozed off for a bit.”

  Saul wiped the drool from his mouth. “And how long is a bit?”

  With a shrug, Gabe replied, “Maybe fifteen minutes. Were you dreaming again?”

  Saul lifted his arms over his head in a long stretch. “Yes. I just hope Buggy checks in on Mabel for us. You can’t leave her, Gabe. Not ever again—at least not when I’m not around.”

  “Were you dreaming about her?”

  “Sort of, I guess.” He took a drink from his canteen. “It’ll be morning soon. Why don’t you get some shut-eye? I’ll keep the lizards away in the meantime.”

  “I can’t sleep now.” He twisted his head over his shoulder and looked at the fallen men. “What are they going to do with them?”

  “They’ll come after them early, I’d say. The dragon too. I imagine there will be quite the celebration.” His gaze drifted up toward the sky. “Like there always is.”

  Gabe pulled his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth a little. “Could a dragon that big be tamed?”

  “One that big and that wild?” Saul shook his head. “I don’t think so. No—only the ones raised in captivity. Even those aren’t trustworthy.”

  “You’d know. But if anyone could tame that dragon, you could.”

  “No, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t be taming any dragons at all. It’s a foolish thing. There is always something dangerous lurking in their eyes. I believe they are thinkers.” He tipped his chin up at the dead dragon on the ground. “She knew she had us. I saw it in her eyes. Lucky for me, she didn’t see you coming.”

  “Can I get up and walk around?” Gabe asked.

  “Sure, just don’t go far.”

  “You don’t think there will be any more big ones like that, do you?”

  “Highly unlikely. Just watch yourself.”

  Actually, Gabe didn’t have any intention of going too far. At least, he didn’t want to let his father out of his sight. He was worried about his dad. Saul was holding back. He always seemed to do so, but Gabe had only caught on to it recently when his grandmother stopped speaking. Whatever had sealed her mouth shut had scared his father. At least, that was Gabe’s theory. As he got older, he got the feeling that his father was protecting him from something big and unseen that hung in the air of Newton. Everything appeared all right, but it wasn’t. The unspoken words were dangerous.

  Kicking a stone, he mumbled, “You’ll understand when you’re old enough.”

  Parents told their children that all the time. Gabe didn’t see what was such a big deal that it had to wait. Besides, he saw the adults doing plenty of things that they told the children they could not do. It didn’t make any sense to him. If they could drink fermented drinks, then he should be able to as well.

  He made his way over to the dragon. From the head to tail, it must have been ten feet long. If he were to guess, it weighed as much as a pair of hunters, maybe more. Moving the lizard wouldn’t be easy, either. The tail had an unusual girth, and many of the scales were packed with hard ridges in different places. Gabe placed his hand on it. The beast didn’t feel like something that had ever lived. The hard muscle under the leathery skin felt like stone.

  I wonder what they will do with it? It’s way too big for the cages. He surveyed the rocky landscape of the valley. I wonder if there are even bigger ones out there.

  He lifted up the tail, wiggled it, and dropped it down again. She is heavy.

  He traced the bones on the dragon’s wings with his finger. He grabbed one and stretched it out. The wings seemed short, but he’d seen a much smaller one that had managed to glide a few feet. Circling the dragon, he studied it in detail. After stepping over the neck, he was back on the side where the belly was exposed. Just below where the eggs were extracted, a stone smaller than a chicken’s egg caught his eye. Covered in the dragon’s oozing fluids, it had an odd hue. He pinched his nose and squatted over top of it. Lizard guts stink. He picked up the slime-covered stone. Warmth pulsated in his bare hand. It was a dragon egg. It’s alive!

  CHAPTER 12

  A sensation unlike anything that he’d ever felt coursed through his fingertips. It raced to the hairs on his head and down to his toes. Filled with exhilarating energy, he wanted to jump out of his boots. The small, bluish orb in his hand pulsated with its own beat. It wasn’t like the other eggs that he’s seen before. It was smaller and not that plum color that looked like brightened mud.

  Is this a dragon egg? Or is this something else?

  He covered it with his hands and let the warmth fill him.

  I could certainly have used this in the winter. It’s so warm.

  The egg’s energy faded. Its hue dulled. The energy fled from Gabe’s bones.

  Hey, what happened? Gabe held it before his eyes and gave it a little shake. If there was something inside, it didn’t jiggle. He couldn’t help but think that maybe it wasn’t an egg or even a stone. Perhaps it was some sort of device—something from the old world that cropped up from time to time. One thing was for certain—it was a lot cooler than Jack’s pocketknife.

  “What do you have over there?” Saul was still sitting but had scooted into a position that gave him a full view of Gabe.

  “Nothing.”

  In a voice of a parent that has just caught his child lying, Saul said, “Gabe?”

  Gabe thought of at least ten excuses he could use that weren’t the truth or were at least partly lies, but he reconsidered. His father had been through enough. Egg in hand, he turned toward his father. “I found this?”

  Squinting, Saul leaned forward. “What is that? A rock?” Suddenly, his back straightened, and he leaned forward. “Tell me it’s not an egg.”

  With a tremor in his voice, Gabe said, “I’m not sure what it is, but I found it by the dragon.” He shrugged. “It was just lying there in the guts.”

  Saul was back on his feet. “Bring it here.”

  Gabe made his approach with his hands cupped like a basket, the egg inside.

  Saul cocked his head to the side. “You have a knack for finding trouble, don’t you, son?”

  “Or it has a knack for finding me.”

  Saul gave him a disapproving glance.

 
“Sorry, Dad.” Lifting the egg higher toward his father’s face, he said, “What do you want me to do with it?”

  Scratching the scruff on his chin, Saul studied the egg. “It almost looks more like a rock than an egg to me. It’s not like the others that I’ve seen, and I’ve seen many. And you said it was under the dragon’s belly, where the others were?”

  “I guess, but I don’t remember seeing it before.”

  “Me either,” Saul said.

  “I can do away with it, Dad. I’m sure it will be fine on its own.” He cocked his arm back to throw it. “Just say the word. Out of sight, out of mind.”

  Saul’s eyebrows lifted up and down as he shifted his weight on his spear and shuffled around in a full circle. Talking to himself, he said, “Never easy. Never easy.” He took a quick look at the egg. His eyes seemed to be searching for the answer to an unsolved mystery. “We hang on to it. Just put it in here. And if anyone asks, remember, let me do the talking.” He hobbled over to his rucksack and kicked it over.

  “You sure?” Gabe said. “I can hide it easy, maybe where someone else might find it, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “No, son. We’ll keep it. It might just be the wild card we need.”

  ***

  Morning came, though it didn’t come quickly. A stiff wind blew the gritty ground so hard that it stung Gabe’s eyes. He turned his face from the wind, located his goggles, and slipped them back on. The clouds were long, jagged streaks of gray that hung eerily in the sky. The sun was lost between the wavy ranks that moved steadily across the sky.

  Gabe made his way over to his father, who stood fast, spear in hand, staring back in the direction from which they came. Holding his stomach, he said, “I’m hungry again.”

  Saul tore off a strip of the hard meat he was chomping on. “That’ll have to do. Let’s just hope we’re heading back by noon.”

  “Do you think someone is really coming?” Gabe stuffed the jerky in his mouth and started to chew. “What if they are going to leave us out here?”

  “They aren’t.” Saul adjusted the round lenses on his goggles. There was a dial on them both that clicked when he turned it. “Company is coming.”

  Rising up on his toes and following his father’s line of sight, Gabe said, “I don’t see anything. Just the dry trees waving in the wind. Can I have the goggles?”

  With a nod, Saul handed them over.

  As soon as he slipped the green lenses over his eyes, his vision was enhanced. He toyed with the lenses, flipping between them, back and forth, up and down. The extra lenses could make something a mile away look a hundred yards away. He saw at least a dozen men making their way through the roughage. Sage was in the lead.

  “I see them.” He noticed the metal badges on the Blue Guards’ chests. Many of them were swatting their clubs side to side, clearing a path. “Oh.”

  “Oh what?” Saul said, looking in each direction.

  “Why are guards coming? Didn’t you see their badges shine?”

  “Guards? As in the Count’s guards?”

  Still adjusting the lenses, Gabe replied, “Are there any other kinds?”

  “It should be hunters. Why in the world isn’t it the hunters?” Saul thrust his clutching fingers out. “Give me those!”

  Before Gabe could do it, his father yanked them off of his head and snapped them over his face. His fingers worked the extra lenses. Leaning forward, he said, “No, no, no, no—”

  “No what, Dad?”

  “Listen to me. No matter what, don’t you say a word, Gabe. Do you understand me? Not a single word.”

  “I won’t say a word. I swear I won’t.” He tugged at the rubber armor on his father’s sleeve. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

  Saul’s chest expanded from a deep, deep draw of air. He glanced around the camp as if looking for some kind of sanctuary. “Stay on my hip, son. Just stay on my hip. And keep your eyes down.”

  Gabe swallowed what was left of the dried meat that he was sucking on, hoping it would fill the pit opening up in his stomach. His father was a confident man and always in control. He had no problem handling the worst of the worst situations. Gabe never feared anything with his father around. Beads of sweat formed on his father’s forehead when he reached down and clasped Gabe’s hand.

  “Dad, what is it?”

  In a stone-cold voice, barely a whisper, Saul said, “I can’t believe it’s her. I can’t believe she’s coming.”

  “Her who?” Gabe couldn’t think of any woman of note that would be able to rattle his dad. He envisioned his grandmother.

  Then Gabe’s stomach sank into his toes when he heard his father say, “The Count.”

  CHAPTER 13

  The Count stood tall. The stormy-eyed woman milled through the camp, larger than life. Her brown hair was a layer of waves that fell just beyond her broad shoulders. Gray had begun to overtake the brown in her locks, which was the only way to tell her age. Her face was smooth, tanned, and creaseless. There was little pink in her thin lips. A rose-colored bandana was tied around her neck. Loose beads of metal jewelry jangled underneath it. She wore dark, heavy clothing. The rugged ensemble fit her athletic figure well, from her thick vest all the way down to the desert-colored boots. She was a hunter’s hunter.

  Standing beside the dragon with her ring-clad knuckles on her hips, she said in a voice that could command both man and beast, “It truly is a big one. As big as I’ve ever seen.” She turned. Her piercing olive eyes fell on Gabe and his father. She said to Sage, without looking at him, “You say the boy had a hand in this.”

  With his chin almost tucked in his chest, Sage replied, “Yes, Count.”

  Gabe avoided her haunting stare. The first glimpse he got of her penetrating eyes was enough for him. Something dangerous lurked behind them. He couldn’t tell if it was good or bad, but in his gut, he didn’t like it. He kept his gaze on her feet and remained just behind his father. Saul’s eyes were cast down as well.

  The Count made her way over to the bodies of the dead men lying side by side on the ground. Her neck was bent over in a vulture-like manner. The brisk winds bristled her hair. With grace, she swept her hair aside and held it back behind her head. She wore a heavy vest with many pockets that bulged just behind their big buttons. She fished something out of one pocket, a type of black netting, and used it to make a ponytail. Then she fastened the button pocket with her slender fingers.

  “Bury them. Bury them deep, possessions and all.”

  At Gabe’s side, Saul stirred. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again.

  Sage put the guards to work. He said to a pair of men with shovels in hand, “Find good dirt, and dig. Make it deep. Make it quick.”

  The men of the Blue Guard stripped down to their trousers. Shovels over their shoulders, they moved out of sight. There were still plenty of the menacing guards left—too many. By Gabe’s count, there were twenty in all. It didn’t make sense that so many would come, unless it was for the Count’s protection. But she didn’t look as though she needed protection at all. She looked as much like a hunter as any hunter he’d ever seen.

  She’s got all of the protection she needs. Gabe’s eyes fell on the gun that was stuffed into a holster that crossed over the front side of her flat belly. A leather bandolier filled with bullets and wrapped around her waist finished the ensemble that held it all together. The gun had a black matte finish and a short barrel. She toyed with the black pearl grip. A gold icon of a gavel was inlaid in the handles. She stroked it like a pet. According to the citizens of Newton, she had a name for it: the Judge. It was the only gun in the compound, and she owned it.

  She bent down and whispered something into Sage’s ear and glanced right at Gabe before looking away.

  Please don’t look at me. What are you looking at me for?

  Sage nodded. He started giving orders to the guards. The men spread out in a circle just out of earshot and turned their backs to them. The strange move s
eemed to leave his father alone with her, except for Sage, who stared on from a distance. The wind died down, the clouds parted, and the sun beat down on them.

  Approaching Gabe and his father, she said, “It seems we have an awfully problematic situation here, Saul.”

  Saul didn’t reply.

  Rubbing the pistol strapped to the front of her gut, she said, “It’s called a tragedy when life suddenly ends. These men died at the hands of the beast. But I needed to see it with my own eyes.” She pulled the pistol out of the holster and rested its tip up over her shoulder. “The Dominion needed my confirmation on this. Of course, it can go two ways. I can confirm what your fellow hunters say—that this monster ripped them apart like a weasel in a hen house—or I can paint another picture. After all, I can’t have the citizens of Newton panicking at the thought of a terrifying dragon. Slain or not, this story can create chaos.” She cocked back the gun’s hammer, making a faint click-click-click sound. She eased the hammer back and forth. “What do you say, Saul? Should it be your story or one that is even better?”

  “The truth is always best no matter what the consequences are,” he replied.

  “Four deaths at the claws of a dragon, Saul?” She cocked her head. “Do you really think our superstitious people will handle that well? Three fatherless families. I have enough mouths to feed on my own. The citizens stir at the most trivial things. You know that.” She holstered her weapon. “They’ll want to blame someone for it, and with the Dominion valuing life so highly—with every mortal being so precious—that blame could fall on someone you adore.” She cast her eyes on Gabe. “You wouldn’t want your son to grow up under that kind of pressure, would you?”

  Sweat dripped off of Saul’s chin, and still not looking at her, he said, “No, I wouldn’t.”

  Stroking her cheeks with her tip-painted fingers, she said, “Then I will give a proper ending to this story. You will support it. After all, your word carries much weight with the people.”