Here Be Dragons: Book 1 of the Emergence Series

«You are leaving?» Jooral asked, surprised.

«Yes, I need to check on my territory, and Pryce wants to check on his ship,» Fathom said. «Ahnoumh is coming with us, and we should be back sometime tomorrow, maybe the day after that.»

“Tomorrow?” Fortitude blinked. «It will not take much time just to visit your territory, why would you come back tomorrow and not today?»

«Pryce has things he wants to do, and things to show us.»

Fortitude hid her disappointment well, but not well enough. Pryce gave her golden ring a contemplative glance, and said, “When we come back, I’ll have a gift for you.”

Fathom seemed a bit surprised, and Fortitude cocked her head upon hearing Fathom’s translation. «What is it? Is it more alcohol? Or a weighing machine?»

“I can’t tell you that; gifts are supposed to be surprises.”

Fortitude stared at him, and blinked. «This is not…some kind of human courtship, is it?»

“Why are you laughing?” Pryce asked, but Fathom only shook his head and declined to answer while Devotion flicked her eyelids at her partner’s antics.

«Ghorrah, would you like to go with them?» Fortitude suddenly asked.

«Of course not,» Devotion snorted. «Why would I do that?»

«I know you want to see this ‘ship’ of his. Go see it, and you can come back to tell me about it.» Devotion grumbled a protest, but Fortitude only said, «I can handle being alone for a few days, or do you think otherwise?»

Devotion sighed, and accepted her defeat.

“Actually, I wanted to ask if I could bring the ship here,” Pryce said, having understood enough to get the gist of their dialogue.

«Bring it here?» Fortitude blinked. «Wait, if you could do that, then why did you have to fly with him?»

“We didn’t know if you wanted us to bring it here.” Fuel was also a concern, but there was no need to explain that yet.

The two elder dragons looked to each other, contemplating this information for a few moments before nodding in sync.

«Very well, you may bring your ship here. Where will you place it?»

“Good question, will any dragons see it if I leave it on the closest beach?” Pryce asked Fathom.

“Yes. Dragons will be flying to the solstice celebration soon, and most of us follow the coastline, so someone will definitely see it.”

“Alright, I’ll bring the ship to the beach so Fortitude can see it, but then I’ll have to leave it out on the ocean so no one will be able to find it.”

“Will the ship not…float away?” Celeste asked.

“The ship stays in place using big pieces of metal attached to chains,” Pryce explained. Of course, the anchors wouldn’t work if the ocean was too deep, but that shouldn’t be a problem if they were only five or ten kilometers out. “Please tell Fortitude that we’ll be back sometime tomorrow, probably near sunset. Once we return, someone can let her know we’re here.”

Fortitude nodded, satisfied. «I will be waiting.»

«If the ship will be here anyway, then there is no need for me to go with them, right?» Devotion asked hopefully.

Fortitude tossed her head in annoyance. «Just go with them. It is not healthy to sit around for so long; I have an excuse, you do not.»

Devotion only shrugged, as if she hadn’t really expected to change her mind. «Are we leaving now?» She asked Fathom, who nodded in response.

They took off soon afterwards with Fortitude waving her unbroken wing in farewell. Pryce was a little surprised that dragons had that same gesture mapped to a different limb, but he realized it was only natural that someone would wave a flag-like appendage to get another’s attention.

The dragons flew perhaps fifty meters apart in a wedge formation, with Fathom in the lead. Pryce privately wondered if it was safe to leave her alone, but he didn’t want to offend her by asking. Now, the distance between dragons afforded enough privacy for him to ask, “Is it okay to leave her behind? What if another dragon comes and tries to challenge her?”

Fathom rumbled in amusement. “You don’t need to worry about her. A few have tried, but I have never heard of her losing a fight on the ground,” he replied, speaking quietly so that none of the others could hear.

“Oh,” Pryce said, surprised to learn the artistic dragon was such a capable combatant. “But what if a dragon tries to fight her in the air?”

“That is very dishonorable, no one would want to fight a dragon who can’t fly,” Fathom said, snorting in disdain. “Well…almost no one. There was one who tried to challenge her, three hundred years ago.”

“What happened?”

“Fortitude agreed to a death-fight, and then walked into a forest. The other dragon couldn’t follow without giving up her advantage, so she eventually went home. After that, Fortitude found out where the other dragon lived, and then killed her in her own home.”

Pryce was getting used to the prevalent violence in draconic culture, but still he had some difficulty in reconciling these merciless actions with the rather easygoing Fortitude.

“That wasn’t dishonorable of her,” Fathom said, mistaking his silence for disapproval. “The other dragon was already a coward, and she was an idiot to go home without agreeing to end the fight.”

“I…see,” Pryce said, frowning. “Do you know why she challenged Fortitude?”

“I heard it was because she wanted to make art too, but she wasn’t as good as Fortitude, so she wanted to kill the competition,” Fathom said, tossing his head. “But she really was an idiot; if Fortitude hadn’t killed her, Devotion definitely would have.”

It made sense that only capable combatants survived so long, but it still surprised Pryce to hear they were so respected. “So who’s the better fighter? You, or Devotion?”

“Males rarely fight females,” Fathom rumbled, avoiding the question. “I told you before, males can fly better, but females are stronger. It is not a fair fight because we fight differently.”

That was an odd way of looking at it. It was interesting to think that neither held a true advantage over the other in combat. “Okay, are there any females who could beat her?”

“I don’t know,” Fathom replied, with a tone that implied he would have shrugged his wings if he wasn’t currently flying. “Old dragons are not always stronger than young dragons, but only strong dragons survive to become old. Unless they don’t fight much,” he amended. “Right now there are only sixteen females who are older than her, and many of them are not as good at fighting as she is.”

“Impressive,” Pryce said. “I’ll do my best to not make her mad.”

“Good idea.”

«What are you talking about?» Celeste called out from her position in the left flank.

«Pryce just had some questions about Ghorrah,» Fathom said, checking that the dragon in question wasn’t close enough to hear them. «Did you have something to ask?»

«I was thinking we could go see the bubblemakers; there is a lake nearby with lots of them.»

“See what?” Pryce asked, not recognizing a few words.

“There are some plants that live on the surface of water, we call them something like ‘bubblemakers’. They only make bubbles for a month around the time of the summer solstice, so they will be starting soon.”

“I’d love to see that,” Pryce said, but then his smile faltered. “Do dragons like to watch these bubbles?”

“Of course, they can be very beautiful at the right time of day.”

“Then I can’t go see them without being seen by other dragons, can I?” Pryce sighed.

“...yes, you are right,” Fathom rumbled, and summarized their conversation to Celeste and Devotion.

«Why is he afraid of being seen by other dragons?» The latter asked.

«He wants to talk to as many dragons as he can at once, that way less of us will go around spreading false rumors,» Fathom answered without consulting Pryce; he had asked the very same question before. «If someone sees him and flies away, we cannot control what they tell others.»

«Then he is correct,» Devotion rumbled, satisfied with this explanation. «If things go well, you can see them after this second ship arrives.»

«I understand,» Celeste sighed. «It is better to see them at their peak anyway.»

“Something to look forward to, then,” Pryce said, settling himself in for the long flight.

“Look forward to?” Fathom asked.

“It means something you want to see. Humans think of the future as ahead of us, so we ‘look forward’ when we want to see something.”

“...makes sense,” Fathom hummed after a moment’s consideration. “I am looking forward to meeting other humans.”

Fathom followed the coastline, using the same route they took five days ago. Four hours of idle chatter later, and they made it back to his territory.

“Cover your ears,” Fathom warned shortly before belting out a deafening roar.

“It’s your territory, why do you have to announce your arrival?” Pryce asked, a little annoyed by the short notice.

“It gives trespassers one last chance to run away, or to roar back and tell me who they are,” Fathom explained. “This way-”

«Is that the ship? That thing is huge!» Celeste cried, interrupting Fathom.

Devotion was less vocal, though she stared wide-eyed for several moments. «I know you said it was large, but this…»

“It took a lot of people a long time to make,” Pryce said, smiling as Fathom descended. The Horizon was still his home despite the terrible circumstances that brought him to this point, and he was glad to see that had been left untouched in his absence.

Celeste dove down ahead of her father to be the first upon the beach. Devotion was less enthusiastic, though she was not far behind Fathom either. Pryce unbuckled himself and landed on the sandy beach, cringing as the blood rushed back into his legs.

Low pinging noises echoed through the ship as Celeste tapped a talon against the hull. Devotion approached it more cautiously, as if it was a behemoth that might suddenly awaken.

«I have never seen anything so smooth and flat. It is very strange,» Celeste noted in a fascinated tone as she continued her inspection of the ship.

“I don’t think I’ve seen anyone use a ship as an instrument before,” Pryce chuckled as she tapped out an impromptu rhythm, though they all cringed when she drew a talon along the side of the hull.

«That sounded almost like a scream,» Devotion huffed, her spines flattened. «This thing is not alive, is it?»

«No, the ship is definitely dead,» Fathom reassured, though he too was surprised by the dreadful noise. «I will go and smell if anyone has been sneaking around, I will be back soon,» he said, and repeated this in English to Pryce.

“Alright, I’ll get started on making the penicillin,” Pryce said, opening the hatch and stepping into the ship, conscious of the curious gazes on his back. He had just picked up a siphon when the two of them peered into the ship, blocking most of the sunlight that would have illuminated the cargo hold. “Would a little sunlight be too much to ask?” he sighed, though the two dragons paid him no mind; they were too busy staring at all the shiny glassware and tools that laid strewn about the hold. He glanced at the pitifully small porthole windows – none of them were facing the sun.

A bit of broken English later Pryce was able to get the two of them to lower their heads – at least enough to give him a decent amount of light.

“What is this…things?” Celeste asked, gesturing with her head while Devotion only continued to stare in silence.

“Complicated.”

“Why?”

Pryce responded with a helpless shrug. “Wait for Fathom.”

Celeste grunted in dissatisfaction, then looked up and tilted her head as if she were eyeballing something. Pryce watched as she suddenly ran up the mountain, turned around, then leapt into a glide that gracefully carried her onto the deck of the ship – at least judging by the surprisingly quiet thud she made.

«You could have just jumped,» Devotion said, tossing her head at the younger dragon's antics before she clambered aboard with a wing-assisted jump.

«This way was more fun,» Celeste said, her rich voice emanating from the deck as she continued to pad about. «Everything really is so straight and smooth.»

“Don’t break anything,” Pryce called out, despite knowing neither of the two would understand. At least they seemed to be having fun exploring. “If you want, I can teach you about the ship when I’m done working.”

“I see things first,” Celeste said, by which Pryce assumed she meant “I’ll look around for now.” Heavy footsteps thudded about the deck, and Pryce smiled as he imagined her running around inspecting everything in sight. He heard her ask questions like, «What do you think this does?» and «How do you think they made this?» and «What is this made out of? I have never seen anything like it,» to which Devotion could only give exasperated, faintly amused answers.

Fathom returned a few minutes later and reported that there were no traces of any trespassers. “Someone could have seen the ship and chosen not to land, but at least everything in my home was the same as when we left, and I didn’t find the scent of any other dragons,” he said while Celeste leapt back down.

“That’s good,” Pryce said absently, focused on diluting a quantity of phosphoric acid.

«Yes, yes, but what are these things?» Celeste blurted, gesturing to the cargo hold the moment Fathom finished speaking.

«Tools,» Fathom shrugged. «He uses them to make human medicine.»

«Why is he making medicine?» Devotion asked, having leapt down as well.

«When I fought Ighnahr, I got sick. Pryce healed me,» Fathom summarized shortly. «I will fight him again, so Pryce is making more medicine.»

Devotion peered into the cargo hold. «I see no plants, what is he using to make the medicine?»

«It is complicated,» Fathom shrugged, an answer which did not satisfy his daughter at all. «At least I have a lot of time to tell you about it now, unless you would like to eat first?»

«How long will we be here?» Devotion asked, looking up to gauge the amount of daylight left.

«We should be able to leave tomorrow around noon, but it depends on Pryce,» Fathom answered.

«Then let us get something to eat; it will be hard to learn while hungry,» Devotion said, and Celeste nodded in agreement.

«You two can go and hunt first, I will stay here in case another dragon comes along,» Fathom said.

“You don’t need to stay here for me, if another dragon shows up I can just go deeper into the ship,” Pryce reassured. “Did I understand correctly?”

“I…yes, you did, but it doesn’t feel safe leaving you alone,” Fathom said mulishly.

“I’ll be fine, go spend some time with your daughter. How about if I lock the door and use lanterns for light?” Fathom begrudgingly accepted this precaution, and a few minutes later they all went hunting for lunch.

Alone, within the dark confines of the ship, Pryce hummed a familiar sequence of notes as he got to work.

The dragons returned scarcely half an hour later, their jaws wet and freshly cleaned. Fathom spent the afternoon teaching the other two dragons how to speak English, their sonorous voices providing a rather comforting background noise to Pryce’s work.

Fathom started by teaching them the human words for the most interesting objects in their immediate line of sight. Pryce took an occasional break from the lab work to bring out some of the more interesting things he had already shown Fathom, but for the most part he remained focused upon his work.

Eventually there was a break in their lessons, and Devotion suddenly stuck her head into the cargo bay to ask, “What is…gift?”

“Gift? What gift?” Pryce asked, startled out of his work.

“Gift for Jooral – Fortitude,” she elaborated, correcting herself to use the name Pryce had given her partner.

“Ah, yes, I was going to get that later, but I guess I can pack some up right now,” Pryce rummaged around the cargo hold and stored a select few chemicals into his backpack.

“What is that?” Devotion asked, peering curiously at his bag.

“It’s a secret, and it’s actually for you too,” he said, pointing at her. “I just want to give it to Fortitude first since she couldn’t come with us.”

Devotion appeared dissatisfied as she received the translation, but ultimately remained silent.

Fathom, however…

“Why does she get something and I don’t?” he demanded, spines flared in indignation.

“I just told you it’s a secret,” Pryce groaned, rolling his eyes. “It won’t even be useful for you.”

“Why not?”

“Can’t hear you, busy working.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

Pryce continued to ignore him, and Fathom was forced to give up when Celeste pestered him for a translation.

Their lessons continued, and Pryce soon found himself finishing up the last batch of the day as the sun began to set. He stretched as the dragons yawned, and asked, “Are you three going to be sleeping in your home?”

“Yes, Devotion can sleep in one of the nearby caves. Are you not coming with us?”

“Yeah, I think I’ll sleep here. The humans back home might have changed their plans, so I want to listen to the radio in the morning without waking any of you up.”

Fathom nodded as he bid Pryce goodnight, which Celeste somewhat awkwardly emulated a moment later.

«What does ‘good night’ mean?» Devotion asked, and Fathom rumbled about it being a human thing as the three of them leisurely strolled up the mountain.

Pryce smiled as he locked the hatch shut, glad to see the three of them getting along better than before.

Half an hour later he was back in his room, ready to go to sleep. He had been looking forward to sleeping in a hammock again – even if cushioned by a sleeping bag, hard rock didn’t make for the best mattress – but as he turned in for the night, he found himself missing the rhythmic, comforting sound of a dragon’s deep breathing.

[JOURNAL ENTRY]

Day 85,

Well, I’m back ‘home’ with two more dragons in tow. Things are coming along nicely.

Tomorrow I’ll finish synthesizing the rest of the broth, make a new batch, then pilot the ship back to Fortitude & Devotion’s territory. The sun sets at around 6:28 pm, and it should take the ship about 4 hours to travel 160 kilometers, so I’ll leave at noon to give myself two and half hours of leeway – I’m not exactly eager to steer a ship in the darkness of night.

Once that’s done all that’s left is to teach them English until it’s time to intercept the rescue team.

Note: 40.48 grams of penicillin synthesized.

Total quantity of penicillin-G produced: 135.36 grams.