Somewhere up in the northern Rockies there's a huge ranch. It's quite remote; the nearest human habitation being not less than an hour's drive away from the main house. It was a wonderful place if one liked their privacy, which was probably why Lady Dithra owned it.
The trip there, cooped-up in the back of a truck with a trio of increasingly claustrophobic dragonets was unpleasant to say the least, and the less I say of it the better. At last we arrived, tired, smelly, sorry-looking lot that we were by then, and the sight of that gorgeous sky when Deebs finally opened the back of the truck for the final time almost made it all worthwhile.
Both Stefan and Lady Dithra were waiting for us there by the main house, accompanied by a third. He was tall and young in appearance, very nearly as dark as Stefan save for his pale gray eyes. Dark rings under those eyes spoke volumes as to what his recent past had been like.
Dithra's face was aglow as I slowly limped up to her and bowed my neck respectfully, but her eyes were upon the three children that had come spilling out behind me, gamboling in the long grass, their scales glittering in the bright sunlight as they wrestled and rolled. "Hasai. Oh, dear Hasai, they're beautiful!"
Wearily I swung my head to look at my children, watch them celebrate their release from their cramped prison. Slowly, almost grudgingly, a small smile began to curl the corners of my hard mouth. "Yes; yes they are, my Lady," I replied at last. I watched the three young ones for a long moment, a sense of wonder beginning to work its way through the cloud of utter exhaustion that fogged my brain. Then I blinked, shook my head, and turned back to examine Stefan and Dithra's companion. "I take it your efforts to rescue our agent were successful."
Dithra didn't reply; all her attention was focused on the dragonets. Stefan, seeing her absorption, almost chuckled. "Indeed, my Lord. He was guarded by only two of our kind, and they were both quite young, as well. My Lady simply commanded them to stand aside," the agent's smile broadened into what was almost a grin "and who were they to defy the Eldest?"
I snorted tiredly, then sighed. "Figures. Wish it'd been that easy at our end." I gave my head a little shake, then looked to Dithra. "Why don't you go introduce yourself, my Lady? I'm sure they'd love to meet you, and frankly, I could use the break."
Dithra blinked, then looked at me as if I'd just offered her the world itself. And, perhaps, maybe I had. "Thank you, dear Hasai." She hesitated for a moment, glancing between myself and my children, but whatever she had thought to add went unsaid as the ancient dragoness suddenly launched herself with long strides across the grassy field. The three dragonets saw her coming and grew wary, but the tension quickly evaporated as she neared and they sensed her nature.
I watched as they swarmed the Eldest, chuckled, turned back to Stefan. "And this is our agent, I presume?"
Stefan tore his eyes away from where Dithra knelt, hugging a crooning dragonet to her gray-green dress. "Ah. Forgive me, my Lord." He turned, gave a gesture I understood to show respect well-earned. "This is indeed our agent, known as Kaa'saht."
"Kaa'saht," I studied the battered-looking agent, gave him a crooked smile "you look almost as bad as I feel."
Kaa'saht smiled tiredly, gave me a bow of deep respect. "The past several days have been more than a little unpleasant, my Lord." The dragon paused, then continued more seriously. "It is a great honor to meet you at last, my Lord."
"No," my mane jangled quietly as I shook my head "the honor is mine." I looked to where Dithra reclined comfortably upon the grass with three dragonets curled around her, then turned back to Stefan's agent. "If it hadn't been for you, I would have had no hope of ever seeing my children." I drew myself up, gave Kaa'saht the same gesture Stefan had, but far more profound. "I am in your debt, sir, and I don't know if I can ever repay you enough."
The one called Kaa'saht blinked at me for a long moment, an expression of near-distress coming to his features. What he was going to say I'll never know, for then both he and Stefan were distracted by something behind me. I looked back once again, to see two men struggling with something at the back of the truck. We had dropped Lucifer and Fields off earlier during our trip, both to hook-up with Wolfman and to get medical treatment for Fields. Only Deebs and Grease were left to unload our last, sad piece of cargo.
I closed my eyes, sighed and turned away, the taste of victory once again turning to ashes in my mouth. "There is no triumph without its share of tragedy," I quietly replied to the dragons' unspoken question.
Sometime later, somewhere in the northern Rockies, the surviving members of our team stood upon a forested slope, passing around a bottle of Jack Daniels while we stared at a low mound of earth.
"Hope he likes it."
Luce accepted the bottle of Mink's favorite poison from Grease, tilted it back, took a sip. He then studied the panorama that spread out before us, vast mountain peaks, already showing the first traces of the oncoming winter, clawing upward into an incredibly blue sky. "He'll like it," he said at last, and handed the bottle to Deebs, who took a big gulp.
"I shouldn't have--" he broke off for a moment, then continued, his voice a bit steadier "I shouldn't have called him. He's been coming apart for years, ever since his wife died. I didn't know he was looking for a place to die, damn it. I--I just didn't know." He took another slug, passed the JD on to Fields, who accepted it with his left hand, wincing slightly as the motion pulled at the stitches in his shoulder.
He stared pensively down at the bottle for several long moments, then took a swig. "We'd all be crispy critters if you hadn't, Deebs. He saved every last one of our sorry asses." The Special Ops soldier paused, took another sip. "I can't think of a better way to go. I hope to God I do half as well, when it's time."
Wolfman took the bottle next, took a careful sip, then stood there silently, staring at the carefully sodded mound. "I will miss him," he simply said at last, and handed the bottle to me.
I accepted it with a steel-armored hand, tilted the whiskey back for a solid shot. A dragon's jaws aren't well-suited for drinking from a bottle, though, and some of the fiery liquid dribbled down my breast as I drank. I didn't care. "We'll all miss him," I replied. "Funny thing, really; I don't think I heard him say more than thirty words in the whole time I knew him, yet. . . ." my voice wavered for a second, and like Deebs I had to pause for a moment. Never let the world see your pain. ". . . .Yet, I trusted him with my life. My life, and more." I took another swig, again spilling almost as much as I drank. "Salutamus, brother."
I spent a moment contemplating the way the bright mountain sunlight sparkled in the fluted glass of the bottle, then held it out to Stefan, who stood next to me still in his human guise.
He hesitated. Slowly I swung my head to look at him, and whatever the former Stasi agent saw in my eyes, it made him reconsider his reluctance. He took a cautious sip, shuddered, then a larger one under my dark gaze. He was silent then for almost a minute, staring at the ground, but finally he spoke. "I am ashamed. All my existence, I have thought of humans as being nothing more than a plague upon the face of this world, and nothing I ever saw refuted that. Then, one comes to destroy all the lies. One who was willing to fight and die, for those who are not even of his species, in the name of friendship, and honor. I am ashamed," Stefan repeated, then fell silent. Finally, he looked to me. "You were right, my Lord Hasai; not all dragons have wings." He looked at the grave that wouldn't be marked. Couldn't be marked. "But if, as many humans believe, death is but a gateway, then perhaps I shall meet him again. If so, on that day I shall teach him how to fly."
Dithra's agent handed the whiskey bottle back to me, then turned and walked away. Slowly, one-by-one, the others began to drift away, eventually leaving only myself and Luce. He stood there for several minutes more, then turned, gave me a gentle smile, and left.
I don't know how long I sat there on my haunches, staring at a heap of dirt, but finally I shook my head and sighed. "You poor, sad bastard. What the hell am I going to do without you?" I lifted the bottle one last time, drank deep, then carefully set the bottle, still containing one last drink, upon the grave. "You did good, buddy. See you again, someday. Save us a place at the table, will you?"
My form shifted and flowed, and where a dragon had crouched a soldier now stood, still clad in battle-dress. I brought myself rigidly upright, snapped a salute, held it for the count of five, brought it down. Without another word I pivoted on my heel and walked away, down the slope, back to the main house where both my children and my future awaited, leaving behind me yet another unmarked grave, and a gleaming whiskey bottle with one swallow left.