Misti and the Dragon Egg

“Let me see if I understand,” the Fixer began. “You want me to arrange a boat for you to...Ailura? Of all places?”

Misti collected all her might and nodded, confirming the Fixer’s words. Even she could admit that her quest was scary, but she was ready to take it head-on. She had to be ready. If no one at the temple was going to do it, Misti had to.

The woman looked shocked and confused. “How old are you?”

“Thirteen,” Misti answered with no hesitation.

The woman’s eyes were still rounded.

The Fixer had introduced herself as Marie Trogon. She was a businesswoman who executed favors for people. She connected the commoners, the average citizens of Sadarka and other Taz cities, to those who could make those favors happen. Those who danced on the other side of the law. Misti had heard of the Fixer through a pilgrim she’d once met. He’d been to Ailura with the Fixer’s service. Now, Misti needed to go to Ailura, too, so she’d sought out the Fixer herself.

“I have the money,” Misti said. A better way to say that was that she’d borrowed the money, but that was beside the point.

“Do you even know how much it costs to smuggle someone into sithrax territory?” Misti didn’t know, but the answer was a whole lot of gold if she had to guess. “Child, Ailura is swarming with lizardmen who will want your skin. Why would you want to go there?”

Yes, Ailura was an island full of bloodthirsty lizardmen, and yes, anyone there not sithrax, and especially her, would have to watch their back, but a quest was a quest. Actually, it was more than a quest. It was a holy mission.

Plus, she knew people—merchants, mostly—traveled to Ailura from time to time, so why couldn’t she?

“I met a pilgrim once. Elwin was his name,” Misti said. “He said you once helped him get in and out of Ailura.”

“Elwin? The wood elf druid who sold trinkets?” Marie sounded baffled. “He was a trader, he had a token, and...he was a wood elf. You are sindur, ti fi chat. The sithrax will make a meal out of you if they don’t make you a slave.”

Misti rounded her eyes. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Did lizardmen really eat sindurs? Misti had only heard that the sithrax were ugly and had big messy teeth.

“I have the money, and I can take care of myself,” Misti assured. She slowly regained her cool.

“Treh byen, little child. But if I send you there, whatever happens to you will be on my conscience.”

Not a child. Misti was losing her calm again. “I’m not asking you to care about what happens to me.”

Marie scoffed. “Do you even know what a sithrax looks like?” She leaned in, planted her elbows on the wooden desk. She stared at Misti with piercing brown eyes and spoke in a dark tone. “They are twice my size. They have slitted snake eyes and teeth like a shark’s. They carry weapons heavier than you. Their scales cannot be pierced by steel, and some of them spit acid that will make your eyes melt into your skull.”

Misti swallowed her fear. “Is that supposed to make me scared?” she asked, bluffing that she wasn’t a little afraid.

“You of all people should know Ailura is no happy place. You either have a reason out of this world for going there, or a death wish.”

“Of all people?”

Marie reclined back in her seat. Her gaze had changed. She looked...puzzled. “You don’t know?” Misti did not answer. “You don’t know about Ailura? You don’t know it’s the—”

“The sindur homeworld, I know,” Misti interrupted the Fixer. “But now I know everyone fears Ailura, though people still go there and return just fine. The pilgrim, Elwin, is proof of that.”

Misti knew Ailura was the birthplace of the sindur race. Nowadays, sindurs wandered the world, homeless. Some lived good lives in lands like Bravoure, Vanhaui, or even Galies. Others still struggled. People remembered the invasion of Ailura as history, a tragedy of over four centuries ago. Misti knew there was still fear, but now, she was faced with how much fear of the sithrax remained. This made her mission all the more critical.

“You said I needed a reason out of this world to go to Ailura?” Misti checked. The Fixer confirmed with a single nod.

Misti lifted her backpack and placed it on the desk. She opened it and showed Marie what was inside. The reason why it was so heavy. The reason why she needed to go to Ailura in the first place. It was time to put her persuasion skills to the test.

Marie’s jaw dropped when she saw the content of the backpack. “Kiyehs sa...” she mumbled. “Gods be damned!” She was in shock.

Misti closed her backpack again carefully, but not before checking on the dragon egg herself to see if it was still in one piece. She’d carried the bag from Gurdal all the way here without opening it. Though dragon eggs could survive apocalypses, she still felt compelled to confirm it.

“Is this what I think it is?” Marie asked.

Misti puffed her chest. “It’s my convent’s most protected secret. It was taken to Bravoure after the Raids of Ailura.”

Marie frowned. “It’s a dragon egg. How do the sindurs have a dragon egg? The god-kings left Terra millennia ago!”

“Our gods left this with us. We call it the Siyliq, or...Gift. And I must take it back to Ailura.” Misti’s eyes met the Fixer’s. She held the woman’s gaze for as long as possible, determined to convince her.

“I have a thousand questions, child, but I will ask only one.” Marie Trogon took one deep breath. “Why?”

It seemed like Misti had the woman’s full attention.

“The Siy has been in sindur hands since the beginning of our scriptures. My convent has watched over it century after century, guarding it, waiting for it to hatch. For when the Siy opens, the sindur gods will return, and all suffering will end.

“When the sithrax came to Ailura, many nuns of the convent sacrificed their lives to get the egg to a safe place. The Siy was brought to Bravoure, to our settlement in low Gurdal, where we’ve kept it safe and secret all these years.”

“Hm, that is an interesting story,” Marie said, but she was getting impatient. “Sindur gods aside, us on the continent believe dragons were the original gods. Do you realize the implications of you running around with a dragon egg? Do you realize how much gold this information is worth?”

Misti’s heart skipped a beat. Where was the Fixer getting at, suddenly mentioning money?

“Don’t worry,” Marie said and sighed. “I am not one to mess with religion, especially not with the gods. But let’s go back to the matter at hand. You want to take the egg back to Ailura.” She paused for a brief moment. “Why you?”

Should the girl-cat tell Marie the real reason why? She could change the story a bit, make it more compelling. She could tell Marie Trogon of a prophecy involving her that guaranteed the freedom of the sindur people should the egg be returned to its destined place. But that would be slightly different from the truth. There was no such prophecy, no such guarantee, but there was a vision. Her vision. The one voice that had come in her dreams and ordained she’d take the Siy back to Ailura. Because Ailura was the only place the egg would hatch, and when the egg hatched, the sindur gods would return and free their homeworld.