Prologue 

Malosi stood by his canoe and watched breathlessly as his son, Ala, grabbed on to a single root protruding from a ledge along the cliff above him. The boy clung to the bluff as he climbed, his tan arms and legs sprawled across the rock much like a spider weaving a web. If Malosi were not confident in Ala’s abilities, he’d never have let him continue this quest.  But Ala was coming into manhood and had been preparing for this day.  His son had scouted the location of the nest and had primed his hands and feet to adhere to the slippery bluff with sap from the pinions. The boy had watched the dragons for weeks, rising from his bed before sunrise. In those misty hours before the light of day, the horned creatures hovered over their breeding places and fed their young. The dragons blocked out the first rays of the sun with their majestic wings shadowing the land, and then as if cued by the wind, the dragons soared into the air and disappeared beyond the clouds, leaving their hatchlings in shallow caves along the southern shore. Today, Ala was reaping his reward for his hard work, and Malosi refused to interfere.

Not to say observing the task wasn’t nerve wracking. Ala was his son, his flesh, and blood. He would die if anything happened to the boy, and so he watched with angst at the figure far from safety.

Malosi breathed in deeply when Ala reached a ledge, turned around, and waved.

“Just find the nest,” the father whispered as he gritted his teeth.

The ocean roared, sending sprays of foam into the air whenever it crashed against the rocks at the base of the bluff. Soon high tide would break against the precipice, making Ala’s mission perilous on his way down, unless he should decide to climb to the summit instead. Were Malosi’s wife, Dai, there, she’d be calling out for her son to be careful, though her voice would be lost in the wind. Fortunately, she was not there. Her presence would have added to Malosi’s anxiety. She had taken the day’s journey inland to tend to the Unfortunates and would not be back until the evening having left with just one goodbye.

“I cannot watch,” she had said.

She had a right to be nervous. An island boy who had climbed the same cliff last year had fallen; his body washed away by the angry sea. There had been no Atanda for him, the afterlife where the dead live forever with the dragons because, sadly, the boy had not found a hatchling.

Just as Ala scrambled into a cave on the side of the bluff, Malosi’s attention was diverted by a man calling his name. Sir Walter of Ellington, a knight from the continent who had come to Queensland specifically for information—information Malosi had refused to reveal. The man’s tall boots crunched in the sand as he approached. His cape overly warm under the sun, a sharp contrast to Malosi’s linen shirt blowing freely in the breeze. Sir Walter’s hounding had become a nuisance ever since he arrived with his fleet of ships. That he was, even at this moment, stalking Malosi and his son, made Malosi’s position difficult.

“I see Ala is mountain-climbing again. He wouldn’t be in search of dragons, would he?”

“Ala’s business is his own,” Malosi replied sharply.

“His own and the Queen’s, I might add.”

“Add what you like. Neither Ala, nor I, nor our tribe belong to your queen. You can wager your sword that there are no dragons belonging to the Queen either.”

Sir Walter glanced up at the cliffs behind Malosi and squinted, shading his eyes with his hand. “Indeed, your boy is on quite the quest. I presume he’s not risking his life simply for the fun of it.”

Malosi glared at him.

“The queen has a handsome prize for you both if you accept my offer. But you must do it soon. I have little time to waste. We leave in the morning.”

Malosi glanced over his shoulder, hoping beyond hope that Ala did not appear from out of that cave with a dragon in his arms while Sir Walter was watching.

“You would only need to advise. There would be no threat to your lives,” the ambassador whispered. “Nor to your son’s. We would pay you in ships, gold, and fabric for your lady. Your entire tribe would be blessed.”

Malosi sighed heavily and met the knight’s gentle gaze. There was nothing insincere about the man. Malosi had walked with him on this beach many an evening discussing the war that plagued Ellington. The help of one powerful dragon would put their strife to rest.

“Believe me, if there were another way to come out of this siege, we wouldn’t have come to you. But the might of the empire is unwavering. They’ve taken our villages to the east and even now ships from the north are coming to invade. We’re a small kingdom. Our people are farmers and sheepherders. We have little to defend ourselves with. We need your help.”

“I will discuss it with Dai.”

“Of course.” The man held his gaze, an earnest plea in his brown eyes. He was middle age, like Malosi. And like Malosi, was no stranger to sorrow. And in a sense, the tribe had a debt to pay the kingdom of Ellington. It was their medicine men who had helped see their tribe through the plague. That was the year when the Unfortunates were taken to live along the river so as not to infect the healthy under the advice of Ellington’s physicians. 

“Send me word with your decision. I’m counting on you.” He nodded toward the cliffs again. “Your boy was successful. It’s no secret what you folks are doing here.”

Sir Walter patted him on the arm, turned and walked away. Malosi reeled around in time to see Ala step out of the cave with a shimmering green, and gold creature tucked under his arm.

 

Dai returned not long after they had a fire going inside the stone structure they called home. A humble abode, furnished with bamboo mats, a table carved from manzanita, and windowsills decorated with Dai’s collection of shells and mother-of-pearl, now glittering in the firelight. When she entered and set her empty basket on the floor next to the door, she smiled at both him and Ala.

“I see you made it home safely, Ala.” Her sigh of relief soothed the entire house.

“Not only I, but look,” Ala had already unwrapped the blanket around his hatchling and swooped the baby dragon into his arms. With only a wing stretch and the blinking of its eyes, it leaned its head against Ala’s chest. “Look how tranquil he is, as if he loves us, Mother!”

“Indeed.” She took the creature's scaly head in her hands and touched its nose with a kiss. “He’s quite happy.”

Dai sat on the mat next to Malosi and took his hand. “And how did you spend your day.”

“Holding my breath,” Malosi laughed and nodded at Ala.

“Did you doubt I would make it, Father?”

“There is always room for doubt, my son. None of us are immortal.”

“But we needn’t worry, now. We have a dragon to see us to the afterlife. Me, you and Mother.”

“So legend tells us,” Dai said softly. “I worry about the Unfortunates though who will never have a quest.”

Malosi did not know how to answer. In all their tribe’s stories, never were the Unfortunates mentioned.

“It is almost as though they are their own tribe, with their own elders,” she added. They miss us, the council, the ocean. They’ve become river people. Some have moved further into the woods and up the mountains, afraid to step foot near any of us.”

“Then how are you able to visit so often?” Ala asked.

“Ala, some of these people were my friends. Some helped raise me. And besides,” she touched his cheek, “my presence brings them healing. I’m not sure why.”

Ala smiled lovingly at his mother and hugged her.

“You had a long day. Take your hatchling and make a bed of straw for it outside next to your window, and then get some sleep.”

Ala tucked the dragon under his arm, gathered the blanket into a ball, and tossed it over his shoulder. “I will sleep outside with him.”

When the room was silent, Malosi took Dai’s hand and kissed it.

“I worry about you visiting the ill so often.”

“Did you worry about Ala today?” she asked.

He huffed a laugh.

“It is my calling to help them.”

They watched the fire for a long while until Malosi garnered enough nerve to speak his mind. Hesitant, for he already knew how Dai felt about the ambassador and his soldiers from the mainland. Still, he promised he would discuss the proposition with her.

“Sir Walter came to the beach today.”

She frowned, her smooth skin glowing in the firelight, her dark eyes studied him.

“Did he see Ala on the cliff?”

“He saw Ala with the hatchling.”

She grunted and sat back. “He wants a dragon,” she whispered.

“It’s their only hope. They are a small kingdom. I doubt they have much of an army and the force is heavy against them.”

She looked up, alarm in her eyes. “You’re thinking of going?”

“I’m torn.”

“Mal,” she took both of his hands in hers and held them tightly. “Why would you leave this place? You cannot leave your son, not now.”

“Ala would go with me.”

“No! No, please. This war means nothing to you. Why invest in another man’s worries?”

He stared at her. Dai who risked her life working with the Unfortunates now begged him not to help a nation who needed him.

“Dai,” he began.

She sighed and leaned back. If he didn’t love her so much, he’d decide without her input. But she was his life. Never had he loved anyone as much as he loved her. His respect for her exceeded that which he held for the elders, or for his parents.

“When does he need to know?”

“In the morning.”

Her gaze returned to the fire.

“Sir Walter invited the family. He said we would not do battle, only advise.”

“And bring the dragons?”

“One, only. That was the promise.”

“Which one, Mal?” she asked, her eyes so intent they bore into his soul.

“The elders will decide.”

“What if it should die?”

“I cannot answer that.”

She shook her head. The decision was not easy for him either. Weighing the worth of the life of a dragon against that of a nation should be left to the gods, not a mortal man.

“Why blow wind in another man’s storm?” she breathed.

He could not answer that question either.

“I will sleep on it,” he whispered.