8. The Dragons’ Bane.
The Dragons’ Bane.
HARLOW
“ H ang on to my neck,” Jayce says, suddenly deadly serious. Without hesitation, I let go of the floater to get a hold of his shoulders as he swims back to the rope ladder. He pushes me first. “Hurry, Harlow. Climb. I’m right behind you.”
For once, I obey as if dragonfire is chasing me. Jayce didn’t want to leave me alone in the water, even though he could have gotten back to the Blunder faster without me.
By the time I reach the upper deck, my arms and legs are shaking from the exertion of climbing so fast. Jayce jumps up behind me, agile in all his wet glory.
A giant shadow has fallen on the Blunder , hiding the sun entirely, and I gasp when I look up: an enormous zeppelin floats above us.
I recognize the airship immediately. I saw the drawings on the job offers in Dragonest when I was looking for an airship hiring a dragoner.
The Dragons’ Bane carries the most famous crew of fire scroungers in the kingdom of Hargos—also, the largest crew, with over fifty heads.
Metal sheets make up the entirety of the humongous oval-shaped crew car, which contains the living quarters and everything needed for life on an airship.
Three elongated balloons with rigid frames carry it.
The Dragons’ Bane is an impressive piece of engineering, but without the grace of the Blunder , and an even sillier name.
“They should turn back,” Kuroki says angrily. “We were here first. The carcass is ours.”
But the captain of the Dragons’ Bane has something else in mind, evidently, as they’re lowering a rigid ladder from their massive crew car.
“Get me the Spitfire,” Jayce says.
Alara nods. “Already on it.”
Seconds later, Wilbur comes running from below decks with a long contraption in hands.
I have never seen such a weapon before. It resembles a cannon, but much smaller, and with intricate patterns of dragon scales and claws.
Jayce hoists it on his shoulder—it looks heavy—and aims it at the zeppelin above us.
He holds the pose as Wilbur loads it with a single ammunition the size of his hand.
“A little something I invented,” Wilbur says to me, noticing my attention. “It’s an explosive launcher. I call it the Spitfire. The ammunition is full of pressurized liquid-fire, and it explodes on impact. It does a lot of damage.”
I gulp. “I believe you.”
Jayce looks incredibly dangerous in that instant, all wet muscles and unbreakable focus, a weapon aimed at the Dragons’ Bane .
The rival fire scroungers mustn’t have gotten the message, because the ladder keeps sliding down.
They want to board us, and it looks like Jayce will have none of it.
He changes his aim slightly and shoots. There’s an audible click, followed by a deafening whoosh .
The ammunition flies at an impressive speed below the zeppelin before exploding on the cliff a safe distance away, near the beach.
The explosion echoes along the coast, and I cringe.
The cliff is engulfed in blue flames for a heartbeat, and rocks cascade into the sea below.
The ladder stops its descent. Moments later, it goes up again, and the Dragons’ Bane massive engine purrs. The fire scroungers fly away.
Jayce lowers the Spitfire and hands it back to Wilbur.
“What—what was that?” I ask.
“Those fuckers are shady,” Alara says. “Entire crews have gone missing in the Wilds, where there are no witnesses. And strangely, the Dragons’ Bane always sells the most cargo.”
Freddy nods, wiping sweat from his brow. “Their captain, Ulric Vanner, is known to be a cutthroat. He was a pirate too, but he sold his soul during the Crimson War and fought on the winning side. He bought the zeppelin with the king’s ransom.”
Kuroki curses the man’s name profusely.
I blink, and Jayce is in front of me, draping a blanket around my shoulders. “You’re freezing. Go get changed.”
“Thank you,” I mumble.
I didn’t expect other fire scroungers to be a threat when I accepted the job. And here I thought dragons on a rampage were our biggest problem. But dragons, at least, are predictable—to an extent. Humans are not.
“I’ll make you a cup of tea, love,” says Gia. She has been observing the events from the bow.
I follow her below decks, teeth chattering, and resentful at the crew of the Dragons’ Bane for interrupting my first experience swimming in the open sea, safe in Jayce’s embrace…
After dinner, I’m resolved to talk to the captain. He has disappeared into his cabin at the stern, and I find my way to his ornate wooden door. I take a deep breath and knock.
“Enter,” he says, his voice muffled on the other side.
I’ve been on the Blunder for a fortnight now, but I’ve never seen the inside of the captain’s cabin.
My eyes widen as I take it in. It’s bigger than I expected.
There is a four-poster bed on the left and a wardrobe and bookshelves on the right.
There’s also, to my surprise, a circular tub connected to the bulkhead by a pipe to collect rainwater.
It looks like there is a liquid-fire stove under it to heat the bath, courtesy of Wilbur.
A red carpet with gold embroidery covers the entire cabin floor.
And suddenly, I recall royalty commissioned the ship, and the bed and tub suddenly make sense. She used to be called the Princess before she was converted into the Blunder .
At the back of the cabin, near the glass panes windows, stands a desk with two chairs. Jayce is sitting with his back to the window. Vines and flowers hang from the ceiling, catching natural sunlight during the day.
“Wow,” I whisper.
“Welcome to my not-so-humble adobe,” he says. “What can I do for you, Your Royal Highness?”
I come to my senses and walk to his desk. “I needed to talk to you.”
“Of course. Take a seat.”
I drop self-consciously onto the chair. “Thank you.”
I gather my thoughts, but before I can make my request, he says, “Do you want a glass of wine?”
I’m about to say no, recalling the last time I was drunk, but then realize one glass won’t hurt. “Sure. Thanks.”
He pours into two glasses. “So. What is it, Harlow?”
“I haven’t told you why I joined your crew.”
“I figured it was to get closer to your precious dragons, like most dragoners who join fire scroungers.” He clinks his glass with mine before taking a sip of his wine.
“In a way, yes. But I have a precise reason for wanting to get closer to dragons. I’m doing research on why sometimes dragons attack. It’s my life’s purpose, ever since I was a child, to understand why tragedies like the one in Bershine happen.”
He raises an eyebrow. “A risky endeavor as far as life purposes go.”
I take a deep breath. “I want us to head to the lair of the female who attacked Bershine.”
He snorts. “Don’t get me wrong, Harlow, I like you a lot. But not enough to risk my ship and my entire crew chasing after an enraged dragon.”
He… likes me a lot?
I do my best to ignore his comment. Now is not the time to get flustered.
“I want to hire you,” I say. “I have money. And you can keep my salary every month. Just give me your price. And in exchange, you’ll let me investigate dragons’ attacks between jobs.
This is the reason I’m here. If I can’t investigate, I’ll have to…
” I swallow, heart heavy. “I’ll have to quit and find other means of traveling. ”
I have money, but not enough to hire a crew and ship solely to take me places for months.
Jayce’s eyes are on me, assessing. He twirls the wine in his glass.
I dig my nails into my palms under the desk. I don’t want to quit. I love working on the Blunder , and I love the crew—more than I expected. And Jayce—
“Very well,” he says at last. “I’ll keep your cut of our harvests.
Work hard, help us get rich, and you won’t have to pay extra.
But know that if it gets too risky, I’ll put my crew first—you included.
You’re part of my crew now, and if I have to protect you from your folly, I will.
Starting today, you obey my every order as your captain. Understood?”
It’s a better deal than I expected.
“Understood.”
“And give us credit if you write a book about it.”
I smile. “Of course.”
“Where is this lair you want us to reach?”
This is the first hurdle to our deal.
“The Forsaken Mines,” I say.
Jayce closes his eyes and sighs. “Of course…”
When our ancestors took ownership of West Hargos, they dug mines in the mountains of the Wilds in search of rare metals. The excavation lasted a few decades, as the king’s troops worked to keep the roads clear from the rebel tribes of the western continent.
But they dug too much, and eventually the mines attracted a young dragon, Alduin.
She breathed fire into the tunnels to get rid of the miners and chose them for her lair.
For a time, the king’s army tried to get her out, but she’d burrowed deep into the earth.
They gave up over seventy years ago, and the mines earned the name of Forsaken Mines.
A few dragoners and adventurers have since ventured into the blackened tunnels and located her lair. Some of them never came back. Dragons are extremely protective of their homes.
The king ordered the creation of new mines along the mountains, but from then on, they always dug small entrances, barely wide enough to let a few men enter at once with carts. It slows mining, but it attracts no dragon.
“What do you expect to find at the Forsaken Mines?” Jayce asks.
“I don’t know yet. I’m hoping to find clues about what could have sent Alduin into a rage and made her attack Bershine miles away from her lair.”
“And how do you know she won’t attack us?”
“I kept a bottle of dragon piss the other day,” I say. “For that purpose…”
“Ah. The foretold dragon piss. Well, let’s hope it does the trick.” He raises his glass of wine. “To our deal. May we survive and fill our cargo hold with riches.”
I grab my glass and accept his toast. He holds my gaze as we drink, and I’m too proud to look away first—everything always feels like a challenge when I’m around him.
I realize belatedly that it’s the first time we find ourselves alone since the night at the Devils’ Cove—the night when I rubbed myself all over him, drunk and desperate.
I’m grateful for the candlelight in the cabin, which hides my blush. My skin suddenly feels too tight, and I remember his body along mine a few hours ago in the water.
“When will you teach me how to swim?” I blurt out suddenly.
Smooth, Harlow.
Jayce smiles. “When the occasion arises. Preferably sooner than later. We can’t have our precious dragoner unable to swim.”
“Okay. Thank you,” I mumble, finishing my glass of wine in one generous gulp. “Well, then. I’ll be going.”
I half hope he’ll ask me to stay.
But Jayce only nods thoughtfully. “Very well. Have a good night, Harlow.”
The way he says my name makes me want to climb over his desk and crawl onto his lap. His voice is deep; his words are nearly too quiet, like the calm before a storm.
“Good night, captain,” I say, walking out too fast.
I could have sworn I heard him laugh before closing the door of his cabin behind me.