The Dragon Games

Say Thy Name

I held my breath and pressed my back harder against the tree, the bark digging into my skin. It was so close, I could feel the heat of its breath. But I wasn't the only one. Through a crack in the trunk, I spied a Windsor boy standing ten yards in front of me, hiding behind another tree. He clamped both hands against his mouth, his body trembling like a leaf as the wyvern drew closer. 

Stop moving, I willed him. The wyvern had almost passed without noticing our presence. Just a few more seconds, and we'd be – his foot slipped, cracking a twig. The boy's eyes widened. Then he was yanked back, kicking and screaming as he disappeared into the fog.

While the wyvern was distracted, I took the chance and ran, desperate for a hiding place with decent coverage. Just as I spotted some bushes, a whistle caught my ear, followed by a flash of steel. I threw myself to the right, and a dagger shot by me, clipping my eyebrow.

Rick sprinted from the fog, cocking back another blade. I whipped out my shank, but a hand caught my wrist before I could swing it. I whipped around to find Tobias in front of me. He wrapped his free hand around my throat, dragging me into the bushes. 

Then he shoved me on my stomach and dug a knee into my back, using his weight to wedge me into the dirt. I made a backward swing at him, but he clamped a meaty hand around my wrists, locking my arms behind my back. Only then, when I was completely trapped, did Rick enter the bushes.

"I meant to draw this out," Tobias said, his breath hot on my neck. "But I guess I'll just have to savor each moment that much more."

Rick slid the clue under my face. Suddenly, Tobias's earlier words echoed through my mind. They thought the wyvern refused to bond with Grace because I didn't spill all of my lifeblood, and now they were here to fix that mistake. 

I jerked my head back, but Tobias caught my hair before I could slam into him and shoved me face into the clue. I tried to throw him off, but with his body weight boring into me, at least a hundred pounds heavier than I was, I could barley breath, much less move.

As Tobias unsheathed his sword with a loud chink, all I could do was stare at the clue. It was the first time I had really looked at it. The alien words meant nothing to me, but they were arranged around the paper to form a shape I recognized and had seen nearly every day of my life. 

Tobias fisted my hair, jerking my head back to expose my neck. He set the cool tip of his sword against my throat –

"Rainfall!" I shouted.

It was so odd, so random, that the sword paused.

"Look at the clue," I said, fighting to keep my voice even. "It's the rainfall constellation. The clue is the rainfall constellation."

Tobias stared at me. "The hell is she on about?"

"Open her throat," Rick said eagerly. "That'll shut her up."

"Don't read each word individually," I said loudly, trying to reclaim their attention. "Look at the shape they form as a whole."

Tobias paused. He leaned over me to squint at the clue and ran his finger across the words, tracing a raindrop-like shape. "Well I'll be damned. This is the rainfall constellation."

Rick glanced between me and the clue, his face twisting. "So what?"

"The clue says 'say thy name'," I replied. "And here it is. Rainfall. It cannot be a coincidence. Say the name of the constellation, and the wyvern is yours, Tobias. I've never been more certain about anything in my entire life."

In truth, the only thing I was certain of was wanting Tobias' sword away from my neck, and this seemed like the best way to make that happen. If Rainfall was the wyvern's true name, Tobias could bond with it and stop the attack. 

If Rainfall was wrong, the wyvern would kill Tobias. In other words, it was a win-win. But I did not have to do much convincing. Tobias was striding into the open before I had even finished my sentence.

"Wyvern!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Wyvern, I know your name!"

Instantly, the wyvern appeared, snarling. Tobias opened his mouth, but before he could speak, a wave of divine slammed into him. He shot through the woods and slammed against a tree with a vicous crack. Then he dropped to the grass, his head twisted all the way around like an owl's, facing the ground while his chest faced the sky.

Rick lowered his hand, his eyes crackling black. Then he shoved the shrubbery aside, exposing both of our locations, and approached the wyvern, his eyes gleaming. I paused, a sudden thought occurring to me. 

If the clue was written in Iraxus, shouldn't the wyvern's name also be said in Iraxus? But then again, names are often universal between languages. Even if Rick spoke in the wrong language, surely the wyvern would understand him anyway.

"Rainfall!" Rick roared.

In a silver blur, the wyvern swung its talons. One moment Rick was yelling. The next, his jacket was damp with blood. He was dead before he even hit the ground, his body sliced in two. Then the wyvern turned to me.

My stomach flipped, and I had a split second to think. I cycled through different iterations Sammy taught me of the rainfall constellation, from island tongues to century old folklore, from high court astrologist to back alley madmen. 

All the different options flashed through my mind in the blink of an eye – the same amount of time it took the wyvern to snap its teeth and lunge. It was nowhere near enough time to be careful about my guess or speak with any real certainty. I blurted out the first thought that came to mind.

"Βροχοποιός!" I shouted.

I squeezed my eyes shut and threw an arm up to cover my face. It was such a stupid, useless gesture – like an arm would offer any protection against a wyvern – but animal instinct took over in a moment of blind terror. A second passed. My chest rose and fell with rapid, shallow breaths. Slowly, I lowered my arm and opened my eyes to find the wyvern gone, nothing but the woods ahead of me.

Without another thought, I took off sprinting. I barrelled straight through a series of needle-like branches, not giving a damn when they scraped my skin raw. A tree tipped on its side blocked my path, so I jumped over it – but my feet didn't hit the ground. 

My legs swung wildly, kicking the open air. I yelped and looked up, to find talons hooked around my shoulders, and massive white wings blocking out the sky. Then the wyvern jerked up, and a slew of curses ripped from my throat as we shot out of the woods and into the stars.