Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology Page 2
Jaci’s phone vibrated. She snatched it from her pocket and answered without looking at the screen.
“Hello?”
“Jaci! Jaci, it’s Bright.”
The panic in Bright’s voice made Jaci’s stomach curl.
“Bright! Where are—?”
“Jaci, listen to me, they’re—!”
A shout came from the other end of the line. A distant roar. A curdling scream and a sound like wood cracking.
“Bright? Bright!”
No reply. For several seconds, Jaci only heard rushing air or static, she couldn’t tell which. Her hands trembled, the phone knocking against her ear. What was happening? How could things go so wrong so quickly?
“Jaci?”
“Bright! Bright, what’s going—?”
“Jaci, listen, don’t come to the garage, they know, they found us. I’m going to the Verity Nature Reserve, I’ll call you again when it’s safe.”
She hung up before Jaci could say anything.
Jaci looked at the cartons of food and the pitcher of pineapple juice in front of her. Her heart pounded in her chest. She needed to get the leg. She needed to get to Bright and Roshanak. Jaci left some change on the table and hurried back up the boulevard. After slipping through the door and down to the basement, Jaci wrapped the leg in plastic and again in cloth, placing it, the silicone liner, and a few socks into a canvas bag. She worked through a plan in her mind: she would go to the nature reserve and wait for Bright to call her. That’s all she had to do. Leave the Umbrella Market, and go to the nature reserve.
Jaci secured the bag on her left shoulder, ready to act out her plan. She made it to the door of the basement when she heard glass shatter upstairs. Footsteps stomped on the floors above, mixed with barely concealed whispers.
“Jaci Sahiri,” said a voice; it sounded like a woman’s. “That’s the name the girl was shouting on the phone. Looks like they’re a mechanic.”
“She’s obviously trying to get the thing a leg,” said another voice, deep and oddly soothing. “All that’s gonna do is up the price for it. You know how many people would kill for a dragon with a prosthesis? We can strip the scales and antlers, and give the rest of it to some collector.”
Jaci locked the basement door, wondering if the intruders could hear her heart knocking against her ribs. She took a deep breath, taking a moment to calm herself so she didn’t hide in the closet like she wanted to. She thought of Bright, who’d avoided poachers across half a continent with an injured dragon in tow. Jaci knew she could do the same in this shop and on her own. She grabbed a wrench off the shelf, dropping it into her canvas bag. Footsteps stomped on the stairs outside the door. Jaci clambered onto her worktable, her fingers fumbling over the locks on the window facing the alleyway. The doorknob rattled. Jaci threw the window open at the same time a dark, hulking man broke the door down with the weight of his shoulder. Jaci screamed, throwing the bag into the alley. She tried to scramble through, but the man grabbed her left ankle like a vice. She kicked at his hand with her right leg, and he screamed when the metal limb connected with his wrist. He let go, and Jaci crawled out the window, snatching up the canvas bag.
She dashed out of the alley, before colliding into the chest of a third poacher. She fell onto her bag, looking up at the tall, skinny man.
“Look, we’re not going to hurt you,” he said, although the grim smile on his face suggested otherwise. “You’re Jaci, right? We just need you to tell us where the dragon is, and we’ll leave you alone.”
Jaci reached into the bag and pulled out her wrench. With a shout, she lunged forward and hit the man in his right knee as hard as she could. He cried out, clutching his knee and falling over. Jaci darted around him, hurrying down the boulevard past Sweet Bee’s. She could hear shouting behind, but she didn’t look back. She dodged around the shoppers trickling into the market, taking all the shortcuts she knew. She left the Umbrella Marker, emerged onto Unity Street, then hurried down the sidewalk, power-walking through the morning crowd. When she was far enough away from the Umbrella Market’s dome, she hailed a passing auto-rickshaw, the little white pod rolling to a stop in front of her.
“Where to, little girl?” the driver asked as Jaci closed the door. She looked out the window and saw the poachers in the crowd, the big man massaging his wrist, the woman’s pale face red with fury.
“The Verity Nature Reserve, please.”
The driver obliged with no questions.
Jaci took out her phone and called Bright. She couldn’t wait anymore.
“Hello?”
“Bright! It’s Jaci. Um … I-I got some customers at the shop.”
“…What did you tell them?”
“I couldn’t help them, so I told them to try somewhere else. Where are you?”
A moment of silence, before she said, “I’m at the nature reserve. Please, hurry.”
Bright hung up, leaving Jaci to endure the rest of the ride in silence.
The city faded to grassy fields dotted with young woods and the remains of old factories and storage hubs converted into houses and farms. Shepherds herded their sheep and cows on sol-bikes, their dogs barking next to them. The New Argent Mountains stood sentinel over the fields, cloaked in thick forests and clouds. There was no way the poachers could find Jaci out here; she’d left them in the city, and they were probably still looking for her there. The nature reserve was a bold place to hide a dragon, but it was perfect. Plenty of open space for Roshanak to hide in. Jaci willed the rickshaw to move faster. The quicker she got this leg on, the better.
She leaned out the window when the rickshaw stopped at the entrance of the reserve. A stone trail wove through the thickening forest. Jaci’s phone vibrated almost as soon as she stepped out of the rickshaw.
“Meet me by the Red Rock,” was Bright’s short instruction. Luckily, signs along the trail pointed Jaci in the direction of the landmark. At this hour of the morning, the trails were blissfully empty of too many people. Some hikers straggled here and there, taking pictures of the towering redwoods, gentle streams, and rock formations that edged the trails. Jaci moved quickly down the trail, occasionally looking over her shoulders for any sign of the poachers.
The signs led Jaci to a small meadow bursting with purple, gold, bright pink, and deep red wildflowers. The Red Rock, ten feet tall and worn smooth by centuries of wind and rain erosion, sat in the middle of the meadow. Deep red stains, younger than the rock, marred its gray surface, remnants of the executions that were staged there during the revolution. A few people milled about it, posing for pictures or reading the sign that told its history. Bright stood near the sign, her shock of blonde hair and dirty clothes giving her away. Jaci wondered when the last time she’d taken a bath or even slept was. She gently tapped Bright on the shoulder. Bright whipped around, her eyes wide with apprehension. Once she saw it was Jaci, she calmed down, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness,” she said, pulling Jaci into a tight hug. She pushed Jaci back, still holding onto her shoulders. “You’re by yourself, right?”
Jaci nodded. “Look, the quicker we do this, the quicker you can get out of here.”
“Right. Follow me.”
After making sure no one was paying attention to them, Bright led Jaci off the trail. The forest grew thick and wild the farther they went, and the sounds of people talking and laughing were soon swallowed by the foliage. Bright had pinned red ribbons to the trees so she could remember which way she went. She removed each of them as they passed, and Jaci admired Bright’s dedication to Roshanak. Jaci wondered if she would ever be as devoted to something as that.
“How did you get Roshanak out here?” asked Jaci as they stepped over a small stream. Her breathing was growing ragged from carrying the leg and taking this small hike.
“It wasn’t easy,” Bright said. “Roshanak set the garages on fire, and I managed to put her in a truck and drive her out of here.”
“You can drive?”
“Can Roshanak fly with three legs?”
“Not really. She needs all four for balance and like, turning when she’s in the air. Plus, landing on three feet is harder when you’re used to doing it with four.”
Of course it was. Jaci remembered her own rehabilitation after she lost her limbs to the fire that took her parents. She’d had to learn how to walk with a leg that wasn’t hers, how to write with an arm made from plastic and metal and not flesh and bone. Roshanak would have to adapt more quickly than she had.
“Where will you go, once she’s got her new leg?”
Bright ran a hand through her hair. “There’s an animal sanctuary in the south. A friend of my father runs it. If I can get Roshanak there, we’ll never have to worry about poachers again.”
A cave mouth opened a few feet from the stream, shaded by thick bushes and hanging moss. Roshanak stuck her head out of the bushes, shaking her head at the sight of Bright and Jaci. She limped out of the cave, nuzzling Jaci on the cheek and purring like a cat. Jaci patted her neck.
“Let’s get this leg on you, girl,” she said.
They went back into the cave. A hole in the roof let in dashes of sunlight, but Bright had set up small lamps around the walls for more light. Jaci put on her gloves, pulling the silicone liner out of the bag. Roshanak laid down, holding out her stump. Jaci rolled the liner on, making sure it was smooth and secure. When she took out the leg, Bright let out a small whistle.
“It looks just like her real leg, but shinier,” she said. Roshanak poked at it with her nose, before licking Jaci on the face again.
“This is the best I could make in one night,” Jaci said. It wasn’t the quickest prosthetic she’d ever made, but it was definitely the most complex. “It’s light enough that she can fly, and sturdy enough to hold her weight, but she can’t keep it on for like, days at a time, okay? You have to take it off every night or after a few hours and let the stump breathe.”
“Do you have to do the same for your arm and leg?”
Jaci shook her head. “No, my prosthetics are made differently; I have a neural implant that lets me move them like my real limbs. I didn’t have time to get that for Roshanak, so this is gonna have to do for now.”
Jaci positioned the leg on the ground in front of Roshanak, readying the straps and fasteners. She had done this countless times for so many of her customers; her fingers moved quickly with the memory of familiar territory.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” asked Bright.
“Um … go outside and keep watch? I think I lost them in the city, but I don’t wanna take any chances.”
Bright nodded, before turning and disappearing outside the cave. Jaci rolled a sock onto Roshanak’s limbs. Next, she pulled the leg onto the stump, strapping it around the thick muscles there.
“Um … Roshanak?” she asked. It felt so odd speaking to a dragon. “Can you stand?”
Roshanak obviously understood, because she struggled to her feet, gingerly lifting her stump so the prosthetic was dangling off the ground.
“Now, put your weight on the leg, okay? It’ll be fine, I’ve done this a hundred times before.”
Air hissed out of the valve on the prosthetic as Roshanak slowly put weight on the leg. Jaci’s chest swelled with pride at the sight of a dragon standing on a leg she made. Tears pricked behind her eyes and she sniffled as Roshanak took a few gentle steps on her new leg. She reared up on her hind legs, spreading her wings and shooting a blast of flame through the hole in the ceiling. She fell back down, leaping and bounding around the cave like an excited puppy. Laughing, Jaci joined her.
Bright burst back into the cave, the look of panic on her face turning into a smile at the sight of Roshanak moving on her new leg. Roshanak bounded up to Bright, licking her face and nuzzling her cheek.
“Jaci, you’re a genius, this is amazing!” Bright squealed. She ran to Jaci, pulling her into another tight hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Clicking noises from outside interrupted their conversation. Bright tensed in Jaci’s arms.
“Come out here with the dragon!”
Bright pulled away from Jaci, shaking, her face white and her eyes wide and rimmed with red.
“I said, come out!”
A gunshot broke the air. They both flinched, but Bright recovered faster than Jaci. She turned to leave, but Jaci grabbed her hand, shaking her head. Bright snatched her hand away, flicking her eyes between Jaci and Roshanak. Get her out, they said.
Roshanak made her decision before they could. She barreled out of the cave, her roar so loud Jaci’s eardrums ached. Jaci and Bright followed her, just in time to see her tackle the female poacher to the ground. The hulking man aimed his gun to fire. Bright flew towards him, screaming, pushing the rifle up. He backhanded her out of the way, and she collapsed with a split lip.
Roshanak bellowed again. She closed the space between her and the big man so quickly he didn’t have time to aim again. She swiped at him with her new leg, and he crumpled to the ground in a motionless heap. Jaci saw the skinny man she had attacked with her wrench, limping towards her. She ran up to him, kicking him in the injured knee as hard as she could with her right leg. He screamed, falling to the ground but still holding onto his gun. He lunged forward, striking Jaci in the gut with the heel of the gun.
The world blurred and tilted, and Jaci’s face hit the dirt with the wind knocked out of her. She saw the big man get up again, ready to give it another go. There was a roar, a blood-curdling scream, and the meadow before the cave glowed as Roshanak bellowed out a stream of fire. The skinny man dove and rolled out of the way, but the big poacher took the full brunt of the flames, screaming and flailing as the flames consumed him.
A hand pulled Jaci to her feet, bringing her back from the brink of unconsciousness.
“Jaci, come on!”
Bright dragged Jaci towards Roshanak, who was crouching low, hissing at the skinny man. It was hard to walk with the throbbing pain in her stomach. Bright half-carried Jaci to Roshanak, helping her climb onto the dragon’s shoulders. Bright pulled herself up, and Jaci wrapped her arms tightly around her waist.
The skinny poacher aimed his rifle at Roshanak, shaking, seeming unsure what to do with one of his companions knocked unconscious and the other gently smoldering on the ground next to him. Jaci wished he would put his gun down and run away. He couldn’t take a dragon on his own.
Roshanak seemed to know this. Her scales vibrated and glowed underneath Bright and Jaci. With a deep hiss, she opened her mouth and shot a roar of flames towards him. Her fire looked like the sun, blood orange, dappled with bursts of gold and white. The poacher screamed, diving out of the way and running back into the forest.
Roshanak beat her wings, and Jaci’s stomach dropped as she lifted into the air. She shot upwards like a bullet, bursting through the trees, rising through the early afternoon sky. Jaci shrieked, air rushing into her throat. She held onto Bright as tight as she could, her legs gripping Roshanak’s side. Wind whistled through her ears and filled her lungs. The sky rushed past in a blur of blue and white.
Roshanak rose, stopping just short of the clouds. She straightened out, stiffening her wings and letting herself glide on the currents. Jaci let out the breath she was holding, resting her cheek against Bright’s shoulder. She dared to look down, and New Argent City and the surrounding farms and fields unfolded underneath her like a painting. The city shone like jewels among the soft green grass. They even flew above some small airships, little golden things floating lazily over the world. The countryside spread underneath them in clean squares of farmland, the jagged squares of canyons and highways, the misty surfaces of lakes and rivers. Jaci thought of the first time she rode in an airship with her aunt and uncle. The craft took them from New Argent City to Callaton, and Jaci remembered being in awe of the view, the untamed bursts of wildflowers, golden fields of grain, the skeletons of old factories and a
bandoned cities. But that ride would never compare to this one. She felt the icy air on her skin and it filled her lungs, and the cool breath of clouds touched her face. Roshanak’s scales were hot underneath her, her wings full and glowing on either side of her. No man-made craft could ever compare to this.
Jaci’s stomach lurched and her ears popped as Roshanak lowered her altitude, descending and coming closer to a cluster of jagged rocks and old factories on the side of the highway. She landed on the highest peak, shaking her body as though urging Bright and Jaci to get off. Bright had to pry Jaci’s arms from around her waist before she slid off Roshanak’s back. Jaci’s limbs were stiff from the cold, and the shock of being on a dragon kept her rooted to her spot on Roshanak’s back for a few moments. When she finally dislodged herself, she landed on unsteady feet and weak knees.
“Did I just—did we just—was that—?”
Bright squealed, clapping her hands and jumping up and down. “Jaci, we did it! You did it!” She launched forward and gave Jaci her third hug in two days. She started shaking in Jaci’s arms, and Jaci realized she was crying.
“Thank you,” Bright sobbed into her shoulder. “Thank you so much. She’d be dead without you.” She pulled away from Jaci, wiping the tears from her face. “Look at me, I’m a mess.” She stomped away, rubbing her eyes and mumbling to herself.
Roshanak lumbered towards Jaci, moving so well on her new leg. Jaci smiled with pride. There it was, something she made, holding up a dragon.
Roshanak nuzzled Jaci on her cheek, and Jaci scratched the spot between Roshanak’s antlers, holding back hot tears. This had to be a dream. Jaci was afraid that if she pulled away from Roshanak, she would wake up in her bed, and the memories of the past two days would fade like the remnants of a dream. She closed her eyes as she rested her cheek against Roshanak’s neck.
“Jaci! Jaci, look!”
Bright’s voice brought Jaci back from her thoughts. When she opened her eyes, she saw a brilliant golden scale in front of her, held delicately between Roshanak’s claws. She could see her face in its gleaming surface, reflecting her wide eyes and open mouth. She took it with trembling hands. It felt like a seashell, worn smooth by the tides.