WARNING: This chapter has a high weird content. In fact, the remainder of this fic will be extremely bizarre, not to mention very liberal concerning the whole canon issue. Proceed with caution from this point forward.
Chapter VIII – Shadow of the Dragon

"Dearie me, things are worse than we suspected… but you're here, that's the important thing!"

The thing's voice was far too cheerful for my tastes, but it had a comforting voice, like a grandfather or a gentle teacher. The creature skidded to a halt just before me, allowing me a closer scrutiny. It possessed the powerful body and uncloven hooves of a horse, a long thin tail with a huge, brilliantly colored plume at the tip, a flaring mane about its jaws, a small horn set between its eyes, and fine antennae sweeping back from its mouth. Its intelligent eyes were a soft brown to match Jessa's, its legs dark gray, its body striped with blue, purple, brown, and rose with a bright yellow belly, and both the ruffed mane and tail plume glittered with crimson, green, and gold. The amalgamation of parts and colors seemed bizarre at first sight, but once one got past the strangeness they could appreciate the strange beauty of the creature.

"Well then…don't give up, my friends, you're almost there! Just another kilometer and a half to the Shadow's home! That's right, keep coming, just a little further and over the rise…"

Somehow, impossibly, new strength surged through my blood, and my companions perked up at once upon hearing the news. The knowledge that our destination was so close served as a beacon to draw us forward, to follow our queer messenger/guide as he continued to spout encouragement in his pleasant, alien voice. Reserves of energy I had not known existed opened up, and I blocked out the pain and fatigue and focused only on moving forward. The others took heart from the news and lifted their heads a little higher as they continued.

Fett fell down again, but this time he wrestled himself to his feet, though slowly. Tuck took a nasty spill that jarred his injured shoulder painfully, but he did not complain as he stood and kept going. The last hill, little more than a slight swell of ground, felt like a mountain to our aching, weary legs, but that only made our triumph all the sweeter as we crested it to look down upon…

More plain, stretching as far as the eye could see. Spread out upon that plain, an enormous transparisteel building housing the largest indoor garden I had ever come across. And affixed to that building, a much smaller cube-shaped stone house with an arched doorway on the side facing us.

Weary, dirty, spent, trailing after the rainbow beast like battle-worn soldiers after their commander, we literally dragged ourselves and each other down the hill to the stone building, where a woman in flowing metallic-silver robes and matching veil that obscured all but her eyes stood waiting.

"Thank you, Ky-Lin my friend, for escorting them." Her voice was quiet, rough, yet sounded too young to belong to an immortal sorceress. To our party she invited "Inside, my friends. There is food, water, a recharger unit…"

We needed no further encouragement but staggered inside. Even Nightwind squeezed through the doorway and scuttled inside. As I passed through the doorway, however, the Shadow stopped me, drawing into her arms in an embrace.

"It is good to see you again," she murmured. "But you are very late, young one. Very late indeed."

Break…

Before I could question the Shadow regarding her strange remark, I was whisked into a spotlessly clean chamber jammed with medical equipment and told to take my time. With that invitation, I laid aside all doubts and questions and luxuriated in the comfort I had been offered. By the time I emerged a good hour later, I felt I had more than made up for the week we had trudged across the plains.

The others had obviously kept busy in my absence. Everyone looked cleaner, for one thing. Luke, Tuck, and Fett sat at a long table in the center of the main living area, hair damp and all clad in simple gray robes as they ate some sort of hot grain-and-fruit concoction. Ash perched at one end of the table and ate delicately from a bowl of the same – despite her prey-bird resemblance the phoenix was an omnivore. Nightwind curled up in one corner of the room and chewed noisily on the leg bone of some sort of beast. Jessa lay sprawled on the bench along the wall, joints well-oiled and clear of sand, a tinny snore issuing from her faceplate. And the Shadow bustled about like a cheery housewife, ensuring that bowls were kept full and her guests were comfortable.

"Ah, welcome back, my friend!" she said in that rough but youthful voice of hers. "The others are just finishing up their meal – at least I think they are – hard to tell with young men, their stomachs can be black holes, can't they?"

"I'd like a refill," Tuck requested, pushing his bowl forward. With both Fett and the trooper minus their customary armor, it was tricky business telling them apart. Only Fett's scars and hard eyes set him apart.

I seated myself at the table, taking a moment to scan the room. Large, but not overly so, it was modestly furnished and seemed to serve as a combination dining room, sitting room, and kitchen. Curiously, I saw nothing to indicate this home's occupant was a sorceress – apart from the rainbow beast, Ky-Lin, who stood at attention in the doorway leading to the greenhouse. I only saw furniture and appliances typical of a modest home, all aged and plain but in good working order.

"Thank you, Lady Shadow, for everything," I told her. "We had come to the end of our endurance…"

"As I'm sure your friend Ash has told you, I am wherever I am needed." She filled another bowl from a cooking reactor and set it before the Ky-Lin, who accepted it gratefully. "You seven aren't the first travelers to stagger, exhausted and starving, onto my doorstep, and you won't be the last."

"A whole nerf to myself!" Nightwind declared happily. "Best I've had in months! And a bath!"

"Hope you enjoyed it, you aren't getting another for awhile," the Shadow told him in a gently teasing tone. "Baby or not, you're a lot of acklay to bathe." She wiped her hands on a cloth, then took a seat on the counter. "Now down to business."

Now that the Shadow was finally holding relatively still, I had an opportunity to take a closer look at her. She still wore the matching silver robes and veil, so of her face only her eyes, cheekbones, and bridge of her nose were visible. A belt consisting of a length of silver chain circled her waist beneath the outer robe, a belt from which two steel daggers and a gray leather pouch hung. Leather gloves, also silver, encased her slender hands, and her feet were clad in soft leather shoes – again, silver. Everything about her seemed gray or silver – her wardrobe, her ashen skin, the curl of silver-blond hair that had escaped her veil, and most notably her pale silver, nearly colorless eyes. It was those eyes that most intrigued me – there was something… not human to them, almost an animal quality, like a wolf's eyes.

"I know the seven of you didn't come all this way to shoot the breeze," she went on, oblivious to my gaze. "Perhaps you can enlighten me…"

"You know very well why we are here," I countered.

She gave me a penetrating look. "Perhaps I do. But I want to hear it in your words, just so I don't misinterpret anything."

So once again we repeated the tale of our travels, this time adding our personal stories where appropriate. The Shadow listened silently, nodding at intervals.

"So we've seven travelers seeking a magician for seven different purposes," she said at length once the story was through. "One seeking death, one a healing, one a master, one the destruction of a gift, one a body, one a refuge for a loved one…" Her gaze moved to Ash, Fett, Nightwind, Tuck, Jessa, and Luke in turn, then stopped at me. "And one who's not quite sure what he seeks."

"Can you help us?" Tuck inquired, a pleading note in his voice.

She shrugged. "I'll do what I can, but let me caution you that I'm not a particularly powerful sorceress." She drew one of her daggers and ran a finger along its edge. "My own fault, actually. My master, the Ancient, told me that one could not be the best at everything, and to focus on two or three lines of study. But I wanted to do it al – Shape-Shifting, Time-Traveling, Illusion, Transmutation, Crystal-Gazing, Dream-Manipulation, Languages… So the price of that desire is that I can perform any magic at a competent, but not an expert level. My only truly strong powers are those of Space-Manipulation and Scrying."

"Scrying?" Luke repeated. "What is that?"

"Would you like me to show you?" Without waiting for an answer she slid down from the counter, removed a clean bowl from a cabinet, and filled it with water. She set it down on the table and placed both hands on the rim. "Look closely…"

As one we leaned over to gaze at the contents of the bowl. Even Jessa had awakened and peered over Fett's shoulder for a glimpse. The Shadow touched a fingertip to the water's surface, and images appeared on its surface as if it were a vidscreen – Rebel starfighters fleeing before the deadly bulk of a Stardestroyer… rioters hauling down and breaking apart a massive statue of the Emperor… a city in flames… stormtroopers being overpowered by angry mobs but determined to fight to the end…

"The galaxy is in chaos," the Shadow murmured. "The New Order was harsh and cruel, yes, but still an Order. Let us pray that the Rebellion will realize that the war will not end until they restore some order."

"Scrying," Jessa murmured. "Seeing things as they happen. Sweet."

"A competent Scryer can scry events anywhere in the galaxy as they happen," the Shadow replied. "But a master Scryer can look into the past as well…" She swirled the water as if panning for precious metals, and new, startling images flashed to life – Luke and Princess Leia crossing the Death Star chasm as blaster fire whined past… acklay cubs tumbling over each other on the forest floor… a formation of stormtroopers striding down a Stardestroyer hallway… Jango Fett ordering his son aboard the Slave before facing down a Jedi… a golden phoenix stroking the air with her wings… a young man and a little girl playing with action figures on the couch… podracers tearing across the desert…

"Stang," murmured Luke, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes. "Stang…"

"Of course, scrying isn't going to solve your problems," she said as she pushed the bowl away. "I would like to talk with each of you separately to ascertain what you really want. That way, I can help each of you adequately."

"But we know what we want already!" protested Fett.

"Most of you, but not all." Her mouth was not visible, but the groove between her eyes indicated she wore a frown. "I'm rather puzzled, my young one. I was sure you, of all people, would know…"

I felt my brow wrinkle. "I want my son not to suffer for my sins. Beyond that… I want nothing."

"Nothing?" Her frown-line deepened. "No questions about the ring? No questions about your past? No desire to explore your birthright?"

"Jessa has satisfied my curiousity regarding the ring," I replied. "And I have no questions about my past. As for my birthright – I presume you mean the Force – I have explored both sides of the Force enough in my life. If I never resort to the Force or the dark side again, I will not regret it."

She closed her eyes, squeezing the lids together until her ashen skin was so creased with wrinkles she looked like an elderly woman. When her eyes opened, an anger glittered there that made everyone shrink back and look away, not wanting to risk the wrath of an enraged sorceress. Before I could move, however, she had taken the "chin" of my mask in one slim, strong hand and was staring into my eyes. Those pale, wild eyes, glowing with rage… they seemed to bore through my mask and into my soul…

"The bastard never told you," she hissed softly, and released me, though her gaze still pinned me to the spot. "He gave me his word that he… never mind." She looked away, incredible sadness replacing her fury. "I should have known not to make deals with a Sith."

"Deal with a Sith?" repeated Luke, bewildered.

I could only stare at the Shadow, confused. What deal had she made with Palpatine? What had he concealed from me? Did it involve the unicorn ring? What birthright had she referred to? The ring? And why had the ring been in the possession of my master?

"Tell me," I demanded quietly.

She shook her head. "Not in the presence of the others…"

"They are my friends," I countered. "It is no matter."

She sighed. "Cup your hands."

"What?"

"Just do it."

Her order confused me further, but at that point I was willing to do anything, if only to learn. The Shadow took the bowl from the table and tipped water into my cupped hands.

"I will show you," she murmured. "Fragments of it already exist, latent but waiting, in your mind. I will help you draw them out and fill in the gaps." Her own hands cradled mine, and I felt her power slip through me like a chill breeze. "Watch and learn, young one…"

The water in my hands silvered over, for a moment reflecting my mask in sharper detail than any mirror, then darkening and displaying the image of a dragon, a unicorn, a knight, a girl…

I recognized the images at once – I had seen them before in visions, meditations, dreams. They had been jumbled then, out of focus, and it was interesting to see them pieced together in the proper order, like a snapped necklace being restrung. Slowly the images flowed together to form a story… the story of the ring, perhaps?

The dragon… searching far and wide for the five gems that would rank him a master dragon… a night of celebration upon acquiring the last… his despair at returning to the cave to find the jewels gone, snatched by a witch…

The unicorn… battling the witch to save his beloved… his horn shattering against the witch's shield… his love ensconced in a crystal tomb that only a unicorn's horn could pierce…

The knight… a fair maiden appearing at his camp… his spurning of her affections… her dropping her disguise to reveal the same witch that had so cruelly treated the first two creatures…

May your armor remain rusty, your weapons blunted, your desires unfulfilled and your questions unanswered until you ask for the hand in marriage of the ugliest creature in the land!…

The girl… hunchbacked, her face hidden behind a mask for fear of the ugliness underneath… a ruby buried in her stomach, bringing agony… her mistress the witch maintaining a tyrannical rule over her and her animal friends… an ornery crow with a sapphire embedded in his wing joint… a lethargic toad with an emerald set in his forehead… a perpetually nervous cat with a diamond sunk into her paw… a prideful fish with a huge pearl jammed permanently in its mouth… all in pain, all crippled, all Keepers of their mistress' stones against the dragon's search…

No, no not yet: they must have a living home, a living body, or He will seek them out… Hide, hide, my precious ones, till I find the formula…

Then… salvation, as one of the witch's own spell-creations brought about her own fiery, violent death… the girl, who's only known name was Thing, setting off with the animals to find a home… the dragon's stones binding them as surely as the ring bound our company… the unicorn joining their fellowship, then the knight…

Go to find the owner of the pebbles, somewhere in the southwest. But maybe first a wise man, a sage, to show us the right path…

The old magician, the Ancient, cranky but wise… pointing out a path through time that would bind them closer for the coming trial… monsters and dangers of every variety to face… a palace full of decadent, bloodthirsty nobles… trees that walked and devoured flesh… an enormous spider, larger than a nexu… a fanged, armored white sea-beast besieging a coastal village… the raging sea that threatened wet destruction… a shape-shifting nightmare beneath the surface of a deceptively placid lake… a tribe of feral humanoids…

You didn't change anything: Time-Travelers are observers. Oh, you robbed the Tree-People of a meal, released some trapped animals, helped a traveler on his way, but you didn't change history; you can only do that in the now, when it is your hand guiding the needle…

Facing the dragon of the Black Mountain at last… the removal of the knight's curse, the restoration of the unicorn's horn, the removal of the stones and, with it, the return of memory… Thing recalling her past, her childhood as daughter of a great lord, her true name of Fleur, and the knowledge that she was not the deformed creature she had been bewitched into believing by her deceased mistress… the dragon's departure to his homeland, a Master Dragon once more…

I must. You know that, my little Fleur. Go back, child, to your love, and leave me to mine…

The unicorn, in an explosion of crystal and horn, perishing to free his beloved… the remaining fragment of his horn… Fleur retrieving it as a keepsake, a ring… the fellowship dissolving as toad, crow, cat, and fish found new homes… Fleur and her beloved knight finding a home of their own at last… the ring staying in the family, being passed down through the generations until it ended up on the hand of a young woman…

Your father wore it round his neck on a cord, for it would not fit him either. He said it was from the horn of a unicorn, passed down in his family for generations, but it did nothing for him…

Summer, a plain fat girl – or so she believed… daughter of the village whore and a mysterious traveler who left behind only a small dowry and the ring… her mother keeping her fattened like a prize bantha calf to keep her from marrying and leaving her side… the mother's sudden death and the callous villagers turning Summer out of their town… a curious mongrel by the side of the road who seemed eager to join her and knew something of great value…

Bit of 'orn off'n a Unicorn, that is! Now you can understand what all the creatures say if'n you pays a bit of attention… once it's on, it's on. Only come off if'n you don' need it no more, or don' deserve it. Very rare these days…

Another queer fellowship banding together… girl, dog, horse, pigeon, tortoise, blind and amnesiac knight, and a freakish flying pig rescued from a carnival… cold, hunger, sickness, a sadistic ghost who nearly ensnared the seven of them in his trap… a rich but kindly merchant who offered shelter for the winter and became quite besotted with Summer… an equally wealthy but cruel and selfish noblewoman who sought the pig, an unusually intelligent creature, as a pet of her own… crossing into a hazardous country… the fellowship again breaking up as pigeon, tortoise, and horse returned to the wild and the knight regained memory and home… Summer regaining a suppressed memory of her own – and her true name…

And my mother said: "How can I call that shapeless lump with the pudding-face 'Talitha' when she is neither graceful nor beautiful, nor will ever be? I was pregnant when her father died, and he had made me promise to give her that name if it were a girl. Of course I agreed, never expecting she would be so plain and clumsy…" How could you remind me! I had forgotten, I didn't remember, it hurts!…

Summer – no, Talitha – and the pig and dog retreating to a Place of Power, where great stones lay… the pig suddenly sloughing off his pig-form to become a dragon… but just as suddenly turning to a man…

It's all your fault, you know… if you hadn't kissed me – not once, but the magic three times – I would have appeared to you only in my dragon skin. As it is, I am now obliged to spend part of my life as a man…

And a further revelation… Summer-Talitha's beauty, as the hard journey had worn away the fat her mother had disguised her with… a moment of fervent passion spent with the dragon-man… and a thunder of black wings as the dragon departed… Summer's return to the merchant's home, where she accepted his proposal of marriage… but then a curious longing, a hunger, an imaginary debate with her deceased mother…

You had my father, don't forget, you knew what real love felt like. You, too, had a choice. Didn't you ever regret not flinging everything aside and following him to the ends of the earth and beyond? A cruel and unjust death took him away from you, but at least you had your memories. And what have I got? A taste, just the tiniest taste, of what life could really be like, of what love meant…

A thousand-mile journey east in the guise of a boy, with only her dog for company… then yet another ring-gathered company, consisting of Summer, the dog, the Ky-Lin – a surprise there – a bear, a rescued slave boy, a conceited merchant's apprentice named Dickon whom Summer could not trust… and most shocking of all, a dragon's egg…

Yours and – his… You truly are privileged, dear girl. You may not realize it but that egg, however it got there, has been a part of you for a year, you nourished it in your body, and whatever happens to it in the future, you will always be part of it. Also remember, it was created in love…

Across deserts, over mountains, against thieves and cannibals and conniving men (including Dickon, whom even I had begun to hate)… to the Blue Mountains where the dragons lived… the dragon going to meet his beloved… their bargain with the other dragons, using the egg as a bargaining chip…

It belongs to those who are left: the Council, to guard and nurture until it is time for the hatching. Many years too late for me, my love… But surely, with a gift such as this, you can persuade them to give me your lifetime as a man to spend with me?…

A plan… the dragon's description of a tropical island populated with gentle natives where they could live in peace and plenty… their departure to the cavern of the Dragon Council… the Council's acceptance… but an intruder, a tagalong, the man Dickon who was jealous of Summer's love… wanted the dragons' riches, wanted Summer to himself… stealing the egg from under the snouts of the Council…

How was I to know they thought it was a plot? How was I to know they thought she and him was in it too? I didn't mean no harm, honest!… the fires of Hell, I can feel them now… it wasn't my fault, it wasn't, I swear it!…

Flames engulfing the cavern… the black dragon and Summer vanishing in a welter of fire… Dickon accursed, wandering, poor, dying fifteen years later with the cryptic last words…

But I did get something out of it! And now those dragons can search till Doomsday, God curse them and curse you all! Do with it what you will…

The egg returned to the rich merchant, who sold it as a curiosity… passing through hundreds of hands until both the egg and Summer's ring ended up in the Ky-Lin's possession… his surrender of both artifacts to the Shadow… her appeal to sorcerers, witches, even the Jedi Council…

The hatchling is dying, surely you can sense it? Too many years of improper handling… I cannot save it alone, but if we merge our powers, surely we can sustain the life within until the time comes for its birth? This life is precious, can't you see? You cannot let a legend die…

The greater magicians turning their backs on her one by one… the Jedi Council refusing on the grounds that the dragons were creatures of destruction, best left to myths… until one came forward, neither sorcerer nor Jedi, but offering to make a deal… a desperate Shadow finally accepting the bargain… Sidious, Maul, Shadow, and Ky-Lin departing Corusant amidst the turbulent winds that seemed to follow Shadow like an invisible private army…

We must act quickly, or it will be too late. This payment is yours – help me, and you will gain this creature as a servant. But be warned – if you fail to fulfill your end of the bargain, that which lies within this shell will return to destroy you…

A slave woman who had lain in a diseased coma for nine months… Sith and sorceress working together to heal her… implanting memories of a pregnancy, then laying the dragon-child in her arms…

But it was no dragon that she awoke to claim as a son, no dragon that grew under the watchful eye of both sorceress and Sith, no dragon that a slightly renegade Jedi took under his wing, no dragon that eventually turned on the Jedi Order and became the most feared creature in the galaxy…

It was a human. A man.

The Chosen One.

I was the dragon.

Break…

"I think he's coming around…"

"Stand back a little, give him some space…"

"Okay, I can buy the whole ring biz, I can handle the phoenix and Ky-Lin popping up, but Darth Vader as a DRAGON! Come on, not even the FANFICS get this cracked!"

"Jessalyn Davidson, keep your voice down…"

All this buzzed senselessly in my ears as I dragged myself back to consciousness. My head swam with bizarre images and even stranger memories. The ring throbbed warmly on my hand, almost in tune with my heartbeat, seeming to welcome the images that flooded my mind…

"Father, are you all right?" asked Luke, extending a hand to help me up. Numbly I accepted the aid and pulled myself to my feet.

"You scared us," Ash told me. "You and the Shadow were scrying something, when you suddenly cried out…"

"Like a dying thing," Nightwind added with a shudder. "Then you fell. Wouldn't wake up…"

"Shadow told us everything," Tuck finished in a dazed tone. "Said we should know."

The Shadow stood off to the side, as if distancing herself from the others, her gloved hands steepled before her. Her eyes brimmed with an unfathomable sadness.

"It can't be…" I protested. "I can't be… I'm not…"

"In the ancient language, anaka meant dragon's offspring," she replied evenly. "Anakor indicated said offspring was female, anakin male. Anakin literally means son of the dragon. Your mother – the woman you call mother – must have known, on some level… at any rate, she was entrusted with your care, and she did very well. It was only later, when the Emperor laid his claim upon you… a claim he had every right to…"

"You…" A fire began stirring sluggishly in my gut. "You knew all this time… and you gave me to the Emperor… you let him use me… you…"

"Hate me, son of the dragon," she told me softly, diamond tears sliding down her face and beneath her veil. "Do not hate the Jedi any longer, nor Obi-wan, nor anyone else. If there is one worthy of your hate, it is I, and I alone. It is my immense foolishness that damned you to a life of misery at the hands of the Emperor." She lowered her head as if awaiting the executioner's blade.

The fire died, and I sank to my knees again. I had spent a lifetime hating. I had expended so much energy simply hating, raging, throwing fuel onto an ever-starving fire that had consumed everything I held dear. But now, my heart was numb, too numb to hate anymore. My emotional strength was completely spent.

"Why?" It seemed the only appropriate question.

"You were dying," she replied. "It was the only way. Your dragon body had been twisted and deformed, abused by rough handling and improper care. We had no knowledge of how to create a new dragon's body for you, so we created a body we had knowledge of – the human body. It had been my hope that, someday, we could restore you to your dragon form. But…" She spread her hands helplessly.

Luke's mouth hung open. "Then that makes me…"

"Quarter-dragon," she finished. "You and your sister. Not enough of the dragon blood to make you significantly different from the rest of humanity, but enough to grant you great power, though not to the extent your father has."

Jessa was shaking her head. "I still think this is way too trippy to be real."

"You say that," the Shadow retorted, though gently, "when the exact same thing has happened to you, albeit without the aid of magic." She let her silvery gaze slide over the cyborg-girl's mechanical body.

My head was still spinning. Whereas before I had professed to having no unanswered questions, now I had nothing but questions for the Shadow. I had to know more, I had to know…

"We will talk more in the morning," she said abruptly. "You have all had a difficult journey. Rest, and in the morning we shall discuss your quests. And more…"