Janet McNaughton - Dragon Seer

For Sophia Oppel

Contents

A single dragon swoops and glides above a ring of standing stones in the midnight-bright sky. Below, the people watch, speechless with adoration. The dragon folds his wings and

Madoca! Wheres my comb?

Madoca stood gazing through the door of the tent. The Ring of the Moon was there, across the calm waters of the loch in the deepening twilight, but the magic was gone. Annoc could even ruin her daydreams. It was too much. Find it yourself! Madoca cried, not bothering to turn around. The air inside the tent grew deathly still. When she could no longer stand the tension, Madoca turned to face her punishment.

Annoc looked beautiful in her best tunic, even with the vein now throbbing at her temple. That will cost you, she said. From now until midwinter, youll have an extra shift at the quern every week. Now find my comb.

All the servants took turns pushing the quern stone that ground Uunguists oats and barley into meal, but Madoca could barely move it. Her arms ached at the thought. Giddy with exhaustion, she began to fumble through the clothes and blankets littering the tent. Most of the other servants had disappeared with family and friends as soon as the Gathering had begun a week ago, leaving Madoca, who had neither, to care for Uunguists family alone. The tent was always a mess by evening.

When she finally found the comb under a blanket, Annoc held her metal mirror to watch as Madoca plaited her fine gold hair.

Soon the Divination will begin, Annoc said. Oh, I hope the dragon picks me. As dragon seer, everyone would obey me. You, of course, would not come to the sacred isle of Dragons Tooth with me. All the dragon seers work is done by magic.

Madoca wished the dragon would pick Annoc too to make her own life more bearable. As a slave, she held no hope of serving the dragons herself, but still... winged dreams flew into her weary mind once again.

Cant you watch what youre doing? Annoc cried as the comb fell. An age seemed to pass before she finally smiled at the mirror. There. I look pretty enough to be a dragon seer. Finish tidying the tent before you leave. Such a shame youll be walking alone, she added as she left. Who knows what evil might creep out of the lochs tonight?

Madoca could not suppress a shudder, but she knew shed risk worse than a walk in the dark for a glimpse of a dragon. At least no one could forbid her from attending the Divination. Not even Annoc. Madoca folded a blanket without seeing it, listening to the children shriek with laughter as they played outside. Tomorrow, they would scatter all over the isles of Orkney again, back to their homes. After five years, Madocas memories of her own home were fading. Surely the father who always gave in to her demands was someone shed only dreamed. Yet she could still remember her mother calling her your fathers little High Queen, laughing through her disapproval. Madoca recalled the smooth, round curve of her mothers belly and her own astonishment when the baby kicked inside. How theyd all laughed, never guessing this baby would kick their world to pieces in a few short days.

After her mother and the blond boy, Gwydoc, were dead, her father placed them both in a pit hed carefully lined with long, flat stones. When Madoca tried to give them blankets and food for comfort, he stopped her, Firm in his refusal for the first time. Where they go, nothing from this life can follow, he said. After, as they walked to Uunguists hall, her father became a silent stranger. Her demands, then her questions, finally even her tearful pleas went unanswered. Madoca fell into a sulk, refusing to speak to or look at him. This had always won him over before, but not that day. Finally, he gave her shoulder a gentle shake. Youll be fine here, Madoca. Its the best I can do. And he was gone.

Madoca was nine then, old enough to be useful. Annoc, who was eleven, claimed the new slave for her own. Although Uunguist was a chieftain, food and warm clothes were scarce in his hall. The first year, sure her father would return, Madoca fought her fall at every turn. But how could she win? Annoc could pinch and slap her in plain view, take away her one thin blanket or make sure Madoca ate nothing but cold porridge for weeks.

She knew life was easier when she didnt resist her fate, but Madoca couldnt always force herself to behave like a slave. In her heart, she still felt like a High Queen.

Psst, Madoca! A sharp whisper carried though the fabric of the tent.

She smiled. Here, Garit. What do you want?

A red-haired boy of sixteen popped into the tent, his grin showing a gap where a front tooth should have been. Its damp tonight. Her ladyship wants her hood.

I havent seen it yet, Madoca said, but she quickened her pace. Even Garit might take a cuff if Annocs mother had to wait too long. He was only a cattle boy, yet everyone loved Garit for his clever carvings and the way he could spellbind a crowd with the old stories.

When are you coming to the Divination? he asked.

As soon as I finish here. I cant wait. Ive never seen a dragon before. Madocas heart beat faster at the thought.

Aye, they rarely show themselves. And who do you think will be chosen?

Folk say Annocs the likely one.

Garit snorted. To be sure, the dragon seers may well favour Annoc, with all the extra tribute of beef and barley her father poured into Dragons Tooth. I carried some of it myself last fall.

But the dragon chooses the new seer. Its magic.

Madoca, its a pity Annoc never lets you put your head up to look around. Plenty of people say there is no magic, that the dragon seers really control the choice.

Could that be true? Madoca stopped searching for the hood. It was as if Garit had turned over a beautiful symbol stone to show her the grubs that crawled beneath.

Here now, dont be upset. It might just be jealousy. Maybe the chieftains say theres no magic because they wish one of them had the dragon seers power to collect all that tribute and settle disputes and make up the rules. Uunguist thinks he can buy his daughters way onto Dragons Tooth, but maybe not. Maybe the dragons really are magic. Well see. Madoca moved a blanket and found the woollen hood. Good lass. Toss it over, Garit said, and he was gone.

What if what Garit said was true? Madoca couldnt allow herself to believe it. Shed waited so long for the chance to see a dragon. They had to be magic.

The land was dark when Madoca finally stepped outside, but midsummer twilight would light the sky until the dawn. The Orkney Isles warmed only a little in the summer sun and Madoca shivered in her thin shift as she stretched the heaviness from her limbs. The distant horizon was rimmed by treeless hills that rolled, slow and gentle, down to the great bowl of this sacred plain. As she left the camp, the homey scent of peat fires was replaced by the sharp odour of reeds and mud and things that had no name. Fear nipped at Madocas heels, rushing her toward the bonfire that flickered across the black water of Loch Moon.

The path curved around the shore and onto the narrow bridge of land between two lochs. To her left, Loch Sun lapped black and peaceful, and, to the right, Loch Moon replied. Ahead lay two rings of standing stones. This was the place of perfect balance, the centre of the world. No one ever stepped inside the Ring of the Sun. Mother Sun gave life to the world, but she could whither a crop or dry up a stream or burn skin until it blistered. Madoca walked to the nearer ring, the gift of Father Moon. He was the god who listened to problems, the one who had given the dragons to her people. During the Gathering, everyone assembled inside the Ring of the Moon to celebrate. Over the week, the chieftains met in council here and the dragon seers settled disputes. Hundreds of years ago, when the Romans threatened all of Alba, battles were planned inside these stone circles, but no one in Orkney could remember war now.