Prologue

Late one evening, the ring of the bell heralded a visitor to the Keep, but when the dragon went down to the lower gate, the only thing waiting for him was a velvet-wrapped bundle. An offering? Occasionally people from the village left offerings on the step but when the bundle started to move and a corner of the fabric fell away, revealing a small human, no larger than a bottle of ale, the dragon knew it was something else. It was too small to have rung the bell by itself, but there was no sign of the person responsible. The only movement was the trees and bushes rustling with the wind. The Fearsome One bent to examine the human. Tuft of hair as pale as rice. Eyes like obsidian. A line of drool escaping from its down-turned mouth. The Fearsome One huffed and shifted to his other form. He pulled the bundle into his arms and wiped the human’s mouth.There were no teeth, just pink gums and a soft tongue. The Fearsome One touched the youngling’s hand and his finger was enveloped in a tiny fist. A strange feeling settled in his chest.

Soft footsteps behind him made him turn.

His human lover, Otto the Tenderhearted, approached with raised eyebrows. “What is that?”

“I was relying on you to be of more help, my heart.” Otto was young. Younger than the Fearsome One by half a millennium, but also fairly young for a human man,just old enough to have left home within the last decade. Even so, Otto should know the answer to his question. “It is a youngling of your kind.” The little one squirmed and tilted its face towards the Fearsome One when he spoke. As a dragon or a human, his voice was the same deep rumble, but he lowered it for the sake of the little ears. “Abandoned. I presume, as it did not sprout on the step.”

“I am aware what a baby is,” Otto said in his brattish way. “Furthermore, I know that they do not sprout out of the ground. I was wondering, what you were planning to do with the child.”

That also seemed obvious. Though it had been centuries since they had had an infant at the Keep, and that had been a dragon, he thought they could manage. “I believe we must harbor the youngling. It has neither teeth nor claws.” A small sound came out of somewhere on the child that was not its mouth. “And I do not believe it can breathe fire.”

“No.”Otto seemed to be holding in a laugh, which to the Fearsome One’s way of thinking was completely out of place for the situation.

He frowned at his lover. “It is helpless.”

Otto gave him a strange look and then held out his arms. In human form the dragon shifter had excellent dexterity, but nevertheless, he handed the fragile bundle over with some relief.

Otto lifted the velvet shroud and the ruffled tunic underneath, checking something.“He.” That was a part of the human language that dragons had never bothered to master. The first humans that came to live with the dragons had all been men and the dragons had adopted “he” and “him” as well, even if the words had no distinction for a dragon.

Ottopulled out a scrap of paper that had been stuck to the youngling’s chest. “It is part of a scroll.” He frowned. “Oh my. He has had his Fate Map done.”

Fate Maps were important to humans; given in the first few days of life by strange creatures magically tied to the Otherside called Tellers, for a hefty tribute. The Fearsome One had met a Teller once, the only thing interesting about it had been its mismatched eyes. One looked like it was made of gold and he had had trouble not imagining it holding a place of honor on a stack of jewels or mounted on a chain.

“He had people,” the Fearsome One said. “People who cared enough to see that done.”

Otto nodded and rubbed his fingers across the fine velvet used to swaddle the youngling, more evidence that he did not come from nothing. “Unfortunately, all that is left is the top of the Fate Map, telling us only the star and moon position at his birth. It has not even been a week.” He sighed and it seemed to deflate him.

Otto might have been upset that the child had been discarded at such a young age;humans were not like dragons, they tended to group together because of blood ties but sometimes they threw their own away, something poor Otto knew from experience and that might be a source of pain. Or he might have been mournful at the loss of information from the Fate Map. Otto believed they laid out the sacred path. In the eyes of optimists, Fate Maps provided structure and prevented selfishness. But they were often vague and easily twisted into weapons humans could use against each other.

“What will become of him? Even his name is missing.” Otto the Tenderhearted had come by his name honestly—the poor dear looked close to tears. “To be so stripped of identity and purpose is cruel.”

It was cruel, even for humans. There was a reason this child had been wrapped in velvet, so rare and fine, but left at the gates of the dragons’ remote mountain home.

“His people were frightened by whatever was promised by the Teller,” the Fearsome One said. “He has been left here to protect either himself or his family from his Fate.” He looked into his lover’s eyes. “To have him here will bring trouble.”

“Yes,but whatever it is, it can be no match for dragons,” Otto said simply. The dragons were the most powerful creatures in the kingdom, they kept to themselves to avoid drawing unwanted attention and because it suited their natures. They had no interest in kings and queens and fighting wars. “You will protect him as your own.”

His trust in the Fearsome One was a limitless treasure. Dragons did not have many weaknesses, and he had fewer than most, but his chosen human could drive him to his knees. “You command me with a word, as always.” The smile he received in return for acquiescing was blinding. He sighed and a bit of smoke came out, as thin as mist. His fire had no real color and his smoke was the same. “If we are to raise him here, we will have to call him something.” His lover understood how dragon names worked, having earned his own after saving a crane with an injured wing, despite the creature pecking at him. “I will claim him, and when he is older, I will give him his dragon name.”

Otto inclined his head. “Thank you.”

“Since he is also yours, you have the right to bestow on him a human name.” The Fearsome One looked at the soft wrinkly creature that could not even hold its own head up. “If I may make a suggestion, give him something such a little thing can wear comfortably.”

Otto’s face became serious and he looked as wise as the mountain as he thought it over. “How about Yury?”