Voices of Dragons

If she were waiting for a sign, she wondered if she’d notice it before it passed. And if she missed one chance, would she get another? This was too much to think about right now, when it should have been such a little thing next to dragons, war, and death.

She stopped, turned toward him, tipped her face up, started to stand on her toes—but she didn’t have to move far, because he was right there, kissing her. As if he’d been waiting, holding back until she made the first move. After that, she could barely keep up with him. Their lips touched, moved together. A pleasant dizziness washed through her—far from cold now, she almost wanted to take her coat off, to be closer to him. His hand moved to her waist, found the edge of her jacket, and slipped under it. He’d taken his gloves off, and she shivered as his skin touched hers.

They could do it. They really could. No one was out here, no other cars around for miles—

Then a jet roared overhead. Far to the north, an orange glow burned on the horizon, the remnant fires of bombing raids. The air smelled of soot.

They broke apart. Jon glanced at his watch. “It’s almost eight.”

“Yeah. Okay.” She had to catch her breath.

They almost jogged back to their cars, their breath smoking in the cool air. He was right—if she really was being followed by military agents, she should have paid more attention to the time. They’d love to catch her out after curfew.

Before leaving, they hugged one more time. “You’ll take that stuff for me?” she reminded him.

He pressed his lips in a grim smile. “Yeah.”

“Thanks.”

Kay had the worst time trying to act normal around her mother that night and the following morning, although she wasn’t sure Mom noticed. They’d been away from normal for a week now. She wasn’t expected to act normal.

Mom wasn’t acting normal. When Kay a

Kay almost gave up on her plan right there.

Over breakfast the next morning, Mom eyed her carefully. Kay’s hand kept shaking when she tried to eat her cereal.

“You’re going to try to talk to it again today?” her mother asked.

“Yeah,” Kay said, not meeting her gaze. “I have to be all patriotic, I guess.”

“Kay, if you don’t want to do it, I’ll stand by you. General Branigan has no right to ask you to do this. Whatever he threatens you with, we’ll deal with it. We’ll take it to the press to generate support if we have to.”

That was exactly what Kay was pla

Pale, tight-lipped, Mom nodded.

Once again, Mom insisted on driving, and once again Kay didn’t argue. Even though she waited, there was nothing her mother could do once the plan started. She couldn’t interfere. But she hoped Jon got the gear out to where she could find it.

As they drove, Kay looked around and found one of the sedans behind them on the highway. Her mother’s glance in the rearview mirror showed she saw it, too.

“They followed me last night,” Kay said. “Just like they’ve been watching the house.”

“Bastards,” Mom muttered. “But that’s okay. They can follow us all they want. We’re only doing what they want us to. We’re not doing anything wrong.”

Kay’s stomach had turned into butterflies.

They stopped in the same place and repeated the ritual, Kay’s mother urging her to call. Kay wondered if she’d even get reception a thousand feet up. Or if it was anything like flying on an airline. Please turn off all cell phones and pagers…

She almost laughed.

Kay hugged her mother extra hard, then went off into the woods. She had to concentrate not to look back.

She’d given Jon a pretty detailed map, marking off an easy-to-find spot where the stream turned, but that still left a fairly wide area where he could have left the gear. Marking a spot or trail by tying something to a branch at eye level was a common practice. So, when she reached the general area, she started searching for something that stood out, for anything colorful and fluttering that would mark the spot.

She didn’t have too much time for this. She’d have to meet Artegal, and then they’d have to move quickly.

“Kay! Over here!”

She spun, panicked, looking for the source of the call. Who had followed her? Her first instinct was to run.

Then she saw Jon, duffel bag over his shoulder, waving his hand.

20

He was right where she’d asked him to be, near the creek, downstream a ways from where she met Artegal. She stared for a moment then, angry, scrambled to him.

“Jon! What are you doing here?”

“I can’t let you do this by yourself.”

“You don’t even know what I’m doing!”

He didn’t say anything, because she was right. She was sort of disappointed, because she wanted to argue with him.

“It’s better if you stay out of it,” she said, grabbing the strap of the duffel bag and pulling it away from him. The coils of rope were lying at his feet, and she picked those up as well. She started hiking along the stream toward the clearing.

Jon followed. She thought of yelling at him, but that wouldn’t make him stop. She’d have to go back herself, not meet Artegal and not go through with the plan.

Tempting.

“Jon. Please.” She turned on him and glared.

“I’m worried about you. I want to help.”

She didn’t have time for this. She didn’t want to have to worry about him, too. Maybe she’d been wrong to ask for his help at all. She kept walking. “You can’t help.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s…it’s too big. There’s too much to explain. I’m sorry, Jon. I’m just…I’m sorry.”

She hiked, he followed, and she didn’t argue with him again. The whole point of this was to reveal the big secret, to go public. May as well start now. She had no idea how he’d react once he realized what she was doing. He may never speak to her again for keeping this from him. That almost made her stop; she didn’t think she could handle it if Jon stopped talking to her. But he wouldn’t do that; she wouldn’t like him so much if he was the kind of guy who would do that.

Only a few minutes of hiking brought them to the creek. It glittered in the sunlight. Beyond, the forest looked no different than it did on this side of the border.

“That’s the border, isn’t it?” he said, stopping at the edge of the water, staring. “We can’t go over there. They’ll kill us.” He pursed his lips. “Somebody’ll kill us.”

“It’ll be okay,” she said, wishing she sounded more confident. She looked around; if anyone else had followed her, she couldn’t see them. “Jon, no matter what happens, don’t be angry with me. Please?”

“No, of course not. I just…I just want to understand with this is about.”

He would, soon enough. She kissed Jon’s cheek, squeezed his hand, then crossed the log bridge over the partly frozen creek.

He held back, looking at her with panic in his eyes. She hadn’t realized how much she’d taken crossing the border for granted. How deeply ingrained the rules had been until she’d met Artegal by accident.

“Kay?” Jon called, not moving.

Kay had only just touched the opposite bank when a familiar noise grew louder—at first, it blended with the jangle of ru

Artegal appeared, neck snaking forward, shadowy body moving into view.

Jon’s eyes widened. “Oh my God—”

“No, Jon, wait.”

He stumbled back, tripping over himself as he started to run away. At the same time, Artegal reared back, curling his neck, spreading his wings, making himself appear larger. A hot breath snorted from his nose and fogged in clouds.