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  Erin could no longer recall how long she had been in the elves’ control. When the trainer rang the bell, Erin knew that was permission to leave her little pen and scurry to the row of chamber pots. The last people to finish were sometimes punished for being last. No one made a sound – any sound without permission resulted in extreme pain. The trainers did not accept any excuse for inadequate drone behavior. If one person in the cohort did not perform adequately, the trainer drone rang his bell and the entire group stopped what they were doing and knelt. The next command would be for each trainee to punish themselves, and each one did. The failure of one drone is the failure of all drones.

  Even thoughts of disobedience were severely punished. Erin’s mind began to bend to think of nothing except pleasing the Drone Master. She would have an occasional moment of clarity: I must keep resisting without disobeying. How would Alec do it? Would it displease the Drone Master if I thought about my children? I do not relish the thought of being severely punished, but I cannot give in and let my mind become enslaved to the elves.

  One morning they were lined up outside their pens for inspection by the Drone Master. When the mother reached her, Erin knelt obediently at the elf’s feet. The Drone Master touched Erin’s bare head and asked, “Did you do your best to follow all directions?”

  When she felt the elf woman’s touch, Erin could not resist; she felt an intense desire to please the mother and wanted to do her best. In good Elvish, she said, “Yes, Mother I did my best.”

  The Drone Master was clearly displeased. “You dirty orbling. I do not tell you to speak in our language! Our language is not for orbs! You are acting like an untrained animal and not doing as you were instructed. Punish yourself.”

  Erin lay on the ground in punishment, her body wracked with pain. She felt intensely disappointed in herself: she had thought that she would overachieve and please the mother – instead, she had not properly followed directions and was being punished. Eventually she heard the Drone Master’s voice: “Stop punishing yourself. Get in position and wait until I come back.”

  Erin forced her body to kneel in the proper position. She could see that about half of the others had been allowed to go into their pens and the others were waiting for the mother to return. Erin’s body was wracked with pain and her legs cramped, but she forced herself to stay in position and wait. She wanted the mother to be pleased.

  Finally, the Drone Master returned to her and put her hand on Erin’s head. “Did you do your best to follow all directions?”

  Erin answered in proper Dronish, “Yes, Mother, I did.”

  “Did you think about anything besides pleasing your trainers?”

  “Yes, Mother, I did. I thought about my children.”

  “Tomorrow you are to punish yourself severely any time you think of your children.”

  “Yes, Mother, I will.”

  “You may go into your pen.” Then the Drone Master moved on to the next kneeling person. Erin waited the exact proper amount of time after the mother stepped away and then slipped into her pen. That night while she tried to sleep, a thought of her children slipped into her conscious. My children. I thought of them. She had to punish herself; she contorted in agony until the thought passed, being careful to ensure she did not cross the lines of her pen as she writhed.

  How would Alec handle this? The mother says that I must punish myself every time I think of my children. I must follow the mother’s instructions, just as she told me to. She does not want me to overachieve. But I must please her. ‘My children’ includes both Leon and Ariana, but perhaps I can think of one child at a time. That would be thinking of ‘my child,’ not ‘my children.’ Erin went to sleep, kneeling in her uncomfortable position within the pen lines, thinking about her daughter, remembering Ariana’s little giggle, her smile, the way her hair smelled, and the way she moved her mouth as she tried to say “Mamma.”

  10 – Mother Suva

  One morning, perhaps the next morning or maybe days later – all days were now the same – as Erin lined up next to her pen with the others of her cohort, a clutchman entered the training area.

  “The females. You female animals, step over here,” he shouted. Most of her cohort were men, but there were about a dozen, or perhaps fewer, females. Erin could no longer count. Counting would not please the mother – Erin did not need to know how many captives were there: that knowledge would not make her a better drone. Erin stepped forward and stood with the other women. Maybe some of them had been her riders; maybe not. She could no longer recall. They followed the clutchman through a passageway and across a paved street into a dimly-lit room where many women were standing silently in rows along one wall.

  In the center of the room was a stand that held a large, perfectly-round stone; it was a dark color, but from some angles seemed almost clear. It looked vaguely familiar to Erin, like something she had seen once. It would not please the mother for her to remember so she suppressed any recollection of where, or when, or why. One by one the women were led to the stone and directed to put their hands on it.

  “Try to make it glow,” the clutchman said. Each woman tried, and when the stone remained dark, the woman was taken out of the room.

  How could a person make a stone glow? Erin wondered, but amazingly, the stone emitted a steady glow when two of the women laid their hands upon it. Those two women were directed to stand on the other side of the room.

  The clutchman motioned for Erin to approach the stone. She walked up to the stone and put her hands on it. If I don’t try my hardest, the mother will be displeased. Erin tried hard to make the stone glow, and to her surprise, the stone lit up. A bored clutchman motioned for her to join the two on the far side.

  Erin could hear two clutchmen talking in Elvish. They were not concerned about the drones hearing anything they said, nor did they think any of the drone recruits understood the language. One clutchman said to the other, “When we finish testing, you can have any of the animals that don’t light up the stone. The ones that can make the stone glow are cross-breeds, and Mother Suva has a use for them.”

  “What does she do with them?”

  “I heard her say something about the dragon. I think she feeds them to the dragon. The other females will soon be trained enough to work in the fields and breed. Soon they will be released to the fields.”

  Erin did not pay much attention to the clutchmen; her only concern was whether she had pleased the mother. Did making the stone glow please the mother or displease the mother? Did I overachieve – again? Will I be punished?

  No other female captives could make the stone glow and the room emptied. A drone appeared with a strap and presented it to the three women; each looped the strap around her arm and stood obediently, waiting for their next command. “Follow me,” the drone said.

  They left the building and walked about an el through the city streets and back alleyways until they came to a nondescript storehouse not far from the edge of the city. From the smell, I think we are near the stables, thought Erin. Is this where they feed the dragon? The drone led them through the building and across a courtyard towards another outbuilding. The mother’s residences had rear courtyards like this, and storehouses in back for their supplies, thought Erin, then suppressed the memory. They entered the building – a large chamber with high narrow windows – and through a side door into a smaller room.

  “On the floor,” the drone said. “By the rings.” He pointed to a set of large metal rings embedded in the stone floor. The three women each took a place by a ring and knelt on the cold hard floor.

  Even without her ring on her finger, Erin could sense the approach of the elf mothers. Two imposing women, dressed in bright, almost gaudy, flowing robes, came into the room through the main entrance.

  “Chain them,” the taller woman said, barely glancing at the kneeling females.

  “Yes, Mother,” the drone replied. He placed manacles and sturdy chains on each of the three women, clipping each chain to one
of the heavy metal rings on the floor.

  The smaller of the two elf mothers was dressed in blue. She came close to the three chained women and looked at them intently. “So, Suva, these are your special subjects for our project,” she said.

  “Yes,” said the taller woman.

  “Pah! They are cross-breeds, all three of them. Disgusting. They look just like us, but smell even worse than the wild orbs,” said the woman in blue.

  “Yes, Om, they are cross-breeds. The only three from the recent cull with enough power to light the stone. I would have preferred to have more potential subjects, but cutting the cull short in the river valley reduced the number of cross-breeds we collected,” Suva said.

  “And our ‘project’?” the second asked.

  The taller mother smiled; her face lit up and she became quite animated. “Yes! With these animals, it will no longer take a mother protector to coddle the dragons! Once we have properly warped and implanted the transmuted brain into our dragon, any coercer with the proper dragon stone will be able to force its obedience. The Dragon Queen who will lead the Disca in the future will not have to come from the mother protectors; but she will be able to be in command just like the True Queens of old. We, the coercers, can claim our right to lead the Disca!” She threw back her head and laughed.

  Om, the woman in blue, smiled as well. “Yes, my sister. It is time! We have chafed for too long under that old and outdated tradition. Ever since you discovered the ancient scrolls that told how to do this, it has been the obvious thing to do. Even with the runes shoved under their noses, the Disca would never have agreed to the change in the Dragon Tradition if they had any choice.”

  The two women looked at each other and clasped arms.

  “And you are ready to do your part? Do you have the dragon-keeper drones prepared for the operation?” asked Suva.

  “Yes!” Om answered. “My drones have been using orbs to practice their brain-cutting technique. One of these three vermin should have a compatible brain to take the place of the dragon’s current one, tired and spent such that it is.”

  “It is fortunate we have the opportunity to replace the dragon’s brain during our lifetime,” Suva replied. “Who knows how we would have controlled the dragon if we had to wait another hundred years for a replacement brain!”

  For the first time, the taller woman peered at the three chained women. “Cross-breeds! Despicable slime.” She spat. “Now that we have the instructions from the old ones, it will be easy to warp the brain so that the fiery beast can be controlled by someone reasonable – someone who is not a descendent of the mother protectors. The mother protectors must have known this all along and kept it secret to preserve their control! Except, one of their drones inscribed the process on the ancient scrolls, and spoiled their secrecy. Now, the dragon can belong to me!”

  “To us,” the blue elf corrected.

  “To us,” Suva agreed. “To the coercers! And the Disca will belong to us as well!”

  Om nodded. She turned and motioned to her drone. The drone opened the door for the mother and followed her out of the room.

  “You,” Suva said, pointing at the first chained woman. “Today have you thought about anything except pleasing me?”

  “Yes, Mother,” the new drone said, dropping her head even further in shame. “I have been bad. Today I thought about my home and my village.”

  “Punish yourself. Every time you think about anything except pleasing me, you will punish yourself.” The naked woman promptly began to writhe, scraping her bare skin on the stone floor until she bled.

  The mother turned to the second woman. “And you?”

  “Mother, I am trying to be good. I have thought of nothing but pleasing you.”

  “Excellent. You may reward yourself.” The chained woman sank back on her heels with a sigh of rapture.

  Then she turned to Erin. “Have you thought about anything except pleasing me?”

  “Yes, Mother, I have,” Erin confessed. “I miss my children. I think about each one in turn.”

  The mother snorted. “Weak scum. Punish yourself. Every time you think about them, you will punish yourself.”

  Erin contorted in pain. But some shard of her training as a Princess came to the forefront of her mind. My Leon. My Ariana. My children mean more to me than this elf mother does. I will not give up my children to become an elf drone. I will punish myself, but I will think about them. I will not give up my son. I will not give up my daughter. In the recesses of her mind she could sense a reassuring feeling as she thought of Ariana’s little face, and she tried to cling to it.

  ✽✽✽

  The next morning, not too early, a serving drone brought the three women drone food and dispassionately tossed it on the floor in front of them. Erin managed to eat hers using her manacled hands. Although maybe it would be easier if I just ate from the floor like a dog, like the other two.

  The three remained chained to the floor and unattended for the remainder of the morning. The only way Erin could tell the passage of time was from the movement of a stripe of sunlight across the stone floor, beaming down from a crack in one of the high slit-like windows. She wanted to speak to her two cell-mates, but she knew her neckband would cause severe punishment if she did. She wanted to think of her children and Alec. Alec. She could think of him; the mother had not forbidden her to think of her consort.

  Alec could handle this, she mused. He said that a mother’s commands must be followed precisely, but that I did not need to make them more far-reaching than her actual words. Erin tried to remember exactly what the elf mother’s command had been. I know. I will not think about Leon and Ariana but I will visualize them. That way I will not be ‘thinking about my children.’ By the middle of the day, Erin had only punished herself a few times. She adamantly refused to give up; instead she made herself visualize her children instead of thinking about them. Ariana looks cute in her little hood. Leon’s blocks are his favorite plaything. He wants me to bring home the dragon’s head.

  At mid-day Suva entered and stood before the first drone woman. She looked at her for a moment, then touched her head. “Have you been good?”

  “Yes, Mother,” the chained woman answered. “I have been good and want only to please you.”

  “I may have a special use for you – to help the the dragon. Are you ready to serve me?”

  “If it pleases you, Mother, I am ready.”

  The mother looked at Erin. “Have you followed my directions?”

  “Yes, Mother, I have followed your directions.”

  “I sense that you are being truthful, but I also sense that you are not telling me everything. Tell me what you are trying to hide.”

  “Mother, I am not trying to hide anything. I followed your directions exactly. I did not think about my children, but I did visualize them occasionally.”

  “You think you are being clever! You need to learn a lesson.” The mother spat at Erin. “You will learn to obey. If one of the first two female cross-breeds are suitable to replace the dragon’s brain, I will not need you for that use. But to teach you a lesson, I will train you just as I will the suitable one.” She squinted her eyes and glared at Erin.

  “I do not need your animal limbs. I need a compliant female cross-breed to provide a new brain for the dragon. Our dragon can live forever, but unfortunately the cross-breed parts wear out and must be replaced. When we find a compatible female cross-breed that matches to our dragon, the dragon-keeper drones remove the female’s arms and legs, then knit its nerves into the dragon’s system. That ties its brain to the dragon’s brain. Then we remove the cross-breed’s heart and link the cross-breed body to the dragon’s blood for sustenance. Then the drone feeds the left-over parts of the cross-breed – its arms and legs, extra organs and so forth – to the dragon.

  “You are spirited for a wild orb, even though you have been under our Drone Master’s hand. I must speak to her about her failure with you.

  “I need you t
o be compliant and loyal. I do not need your limbs. And you will not need your limbs after you leave here. If you become the replacement for the dragon’s parts, you will have the dragon’s body and not need your limbs. And if one of the other two cross-breeds brought here with you is compatible, then you will never need your limbs again.” The mother laughed at her own dark joke.

  The door to the little dungeon opened, and an elf woman entered; even in the dim light, Erin recognized her as Om, the mother who was wearing blue robes the day before. Today she was dressed in working attire, in a manner similar to the Drone Master.

  “Have you picked one, Suva?” she asked impatiently.

  “This one seems too arrogant,” Suva said, kicking Erin. “Not sufficiently trained. I think that one might be the best choice,” she continued, pointing at the second woman, the most-compliant of the three.

  “Take her,” Om said to her drone, and he unfastened the woman’s chains and led her from the room.

  “How long will this take?” Suva asked. “I need to know how much more time I must waste on these spare culls before we feed them to the dragon.”

  “It depends on the skill of the operating drone,” Om replied. “Our current drone has not done this before. It is possible that the cross-breed will die before the transfer is complete. Or the drone may damage the new parts in the transfer; in either case we would need to start over with a fresh cross-breed.”

  Suva nodded. “That is why I asked the cull mothers to bring in all the cross-breeds they had collected, so we would have spares just in case you needed them. It is a pity that they only collected three.”

  “I see,” Om said, nodding her head. “I am glad you understand the limitations of the transfer process.” She stared at the two remaining women chained to the floor, as though appraising pieces of mechanical equipment. “I understand that this part of the brain is essential for the dragon to make use of the dark energy. But why must we use cross-breeds, when there are so many wild orbs that can sense the dark energy?”