The 19 Dragons by SM Reine

Author:SM Reine
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: gods, dragons, steampunk

The Eleventh Dragon is a young man, nimble and spry. You will never see him. Before becoming human, he was the smallest of his cousins and flitted from cavern to cavern to sneak peeks at their personal business; now in his vessel, he has become a great spy who crosses kingdoms with information.

He has learned the plans of the Islands to the East and will carry them to the president of the Mountains, who frets and fears his time is nigh. The president will tell the king in New Haven, and the Eleventh Dragon will return to learn more.

“It is the Islands to the East, isn’t it?” asks the president of the Mountains, wringing his hands. He has been writing panicked letters to his allies and the sleeves of his coat are covered in ink. “He is the one making the world disappear!”

“No,” says the Eleventh Dragon, “their plans involve horrible machines and violence beyond reckoning, but even they do not have the power to make the world vanish.”

“Then who? Why?”

The Eleventh Dragon knows the answer to neither, and this lack of knowledge disturbs him more as each moment passes.

The clock on the president’s wall tolls, and he turns to see the time. It is the witching hour. There is no moon, and it is the darkest of nights in the mountains.

When he turns back, the spy has already gone.

There he is! See him hurrying along the rooftops of the buildings. He leaps from roof to roof, plunging through smoke belched by factory smokestacks, moving like the swiftest shadow.

He darts from one end of the city to the other and reaches the docks built at the top of the very tallest tree. One dirigible has just departed and another will arrive soon. He hides amongst the crates to bide the time.

A cloaked figure spots him. “Excuse me,” says he, “could you tell me when the next ship will arrive?”

The Eleventh Dragon is not accustomed to being seen. He is unsure of what to say. “It is out on the horizon. There, do you see it? It should be a few minutes yet.”

“Excellent. Thank you.”

He hears a click and realizes a heartbeat later that it is a weapon being cocked. The Eleventh Dragon dodges and a bullet smacks into the crate by his head.

“What is this?” he demands as the cloaked one loads a new bullet. “What are you doing, cousin?”

“I am doing what I should have done centuries past!”

He fires again and the Eleventh Dragon is hit this time. Pain flames on the side of his arm. He can no longer wait for the dirigible to dock, so he leaps into space, snagging the top of a tree and sliding down the branches.

The spy leaps and leaps again. Each bullet misses.

He doesn’t stop until he reaches the ground, and then he inspects the injury. He is bleeding a good deal, and he tears off a strip of his waistcoat to wrap it around his arm. It takes a moment for the Eleventh Dragon to realize he has dodged true death.

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