Falcon

I came to on the ground outside of the barber’s hovel. Mr. Sky looked at the back of my head, “Right, it’s just a bump. A nasty one. But, a bump.” Madame Piff sat beside me. The scepter lay in her lap, and she set it down beside me as soon as she saw my eyes open.

“Take this damn thing, I don’t want it,” she said.

The ground shook, “Is she going to be okay?”

Mr. Sky spat on the ground, “You know full well she ain’t. She’ll survive today and tomorrow. My, what a relief. We both know how this really ends.” He cleared his throat, “I wonder how long you’ll pretend to care for.”

“You’re saying this just beside my High Priestess!” Bubbles giggled.

Madame Piff ran her hands through her curly white hair, “He’s right.” A scream echoed from inside of the barber’s hovel. It sounded like Lady Hen.

Mr. Sky gritted his teeth, “I’ve got to go back now. I takes a bloody princess for me to trust Mack to deliver a baby.” Another of her scream’s took the breath out of me.

Madame Piff frowned, “Poor woman, forced to bring a baby into this place. It won’t live a month like this. Don’t tell her that.”

“The baby will be fine,” I grabbed my scepter, but I didn’t look at it. I looked out toward the flame glands. My voices was almost pleading, “it will be beautiful, and it will be fine.”

“So sentimental…” Bubbles hummed, “It’s a human just like all of you. What’s the difference?”

Madame Piff laughed to herself, “Do dragons not care for their young?”

“Do humans mind when a quail’s egg breaks?” Bubbles retorted, “You’re such hypocritical creatures. If there was a beast that hunted dragons, it wouldn’t think dragon eggs were important. Fortunately, there is no such thing.”

I put my hands together, “Lady Hen is a very kind woman. One of the kindest here.”

“I very much agree with you, that changes nothing. Rather, she also isn’t you, Princess.”

Madame Piff raised an eyebrow, “Do you truly see the infant as just another meal?” She sounded almost in disbelief.

“Heavens no!” The dragon burped, “I’ll hardly even notice it! It’s somehow even smaller than the Princess. I can’t wait to taste it.”

I quieted down. I just didn’t want to say anything else to Bubbles about this. There were things she seemed not to understand. When the baby came, I wandered into the room to see him nestled in Lady Hen’s arms. She was covered in sweat and blood.

“A boy…” Mr. Sky whispered as he saw me.

“You said you’d name him something special if it was a boy,” I walked around Lady Hen.

She took a deep breath as the baby screamed in her arms. Lady Hen forced a smile, her voice shook, “Falcon….” She ran her fingers along the tiny tufts of hair on his head.

“Count Falcon,” I smiled at him. I left Lady Hen to recover on her own. Mr. Sky watched her.

Mack followed me outside. He grabbed me by the shoulder, “There needs to be a way for her to leave. A mother with her infant, they don’t belong here.” His fingers pinched against me.

“You’re asking for yourself,” I dismissed him, “for your own family.”

“And what if I am!” He yelled. “You heard the dragon. If that’s what she thinks of an infant, what does she think of me? What does it think of you?”

“I know exactly what Bubbles thinks of me.”

“Will you help me to escape, or not?”

The voice of Bubbles rippled through the river and the stinging air, “The princess will do no such thing. If you hate me so much that you want to leave, just wait… I’ll have to get rid of you eventually, in some form or another.”

He sunk down, “Are you threatening me?” He yelled at the sky, “Don’t you realize I have nothing more to lose?”

“Oh?” Bubbles muttered, “Your daughter plays by the river often. I would keep her inside from now on.” She went on, “Or, you could be good like the Princess is. Good like the rest of my food, Mack.”

Mack made a face at me. His mouth hung open slightly like he was expecting me to say something. I finally straightened my back, “You should go home, Mack. Your family is waiting for you.”

I wandered toward the edge of town. The long wall wrapped upward by a blazing light. I held my had over my brow, the heat of the flame gland brushing against me. The river widened near the edge, and I had to watch my step as little tributaries cut across the ground of the perimeter. “That kind of comment won’t earn you any love from him.”

“He’s decided he hates us anyway,” Bubbles snorted, “I don’t understand why you want to waste your time with him.”

“Lady Hen is my friend.”

“So am I,” Bubbles interjected, “I’m a more important friend than she is.”

I nodded. In one way or another, Bubbles was right. “I want to make things nicer for people, that’s all.”

“I know that. I want to make things nice for you, too. Mack, all of these people constantly whining has to be draining for you, Princess. I know it’s draining for me just listening to them.”

“I don’t know what to do with him. He is a kind person.”

“He’s less kind to you than I am.”

I shrugged, “He doesn’t want to kill me.”

“That’s not fair,” Bubbles huffed.

“I don’t think he’s a bad person.”

“There are good people who obstruct good things. People can be well-meaning and likewise misguided,” Bubbles said sadly, “What more is to be said? They don’t want what’s best for you like I do.”