The dragon rider set about the task of trying to calm her mount while
Gilligan gathered everything of value and flung it under the overhanging
rock for protection from fallout. He kept his eye on the skies, looking
for rain clouds.
“Karin, get over here!”
“But Stigi needs me.”
“Bring him here then. But get the hell under cover.”
She led the dragon over to the rock shelter, still patting his great
scaled neck and talking to him in soothing tones.
“Get in here with me and have him lay down next to the overhang so he
blocks the entrance,” Gilligan commanded.
For once Stigi did not object to Gilligan’s proximity. It was hard to
imagine an eighty-foot monster cowering, but this one was shivering from
fang to tail tip. Karin kept patting his back and talking to the dragon
even after it lay down.
Gilligan checked his shoulder holster and found that about a handful of
sand had gotten into it when he hit the dirt. Rummaging through the
haphazard pile of equipment he found his cleaning kit and proceeded to
field strip and clean his Beretta.
Objectively it didn’t help much, but it made him feel better.
“You said you would tell me what that was later,” Karin said after a time.
“Is now later enough?”
“It was an air burst,” Gilligan said tightly. “I don’t know how big
because I don’t know how far away.”
He looked out around the quaking dragon at the sky. “Pretty far, I think.
There’s no sign of blast-induced rain.”
“It wasn’t natural, was it? I mean it isn’t something that just happens
here?”
“No, it’s manmade. Or something made anyway.”
Karin eyed him sideways. “And you have seen them before?”
“Never. I always hoped I never would.” He slid the pistol back into its
holster. “You remember I told you that we would fight an all-out war with
weapons that could destroy a city in the blink of an eye? That was one of
those weapons.”
“Then your people . . . ?”
“No!” Karin jerked back as if she had been slapped at the violence of his
reply. “I told you we’d never use them unless we were attacked. Nobody
would. We’re all too afraid of them.”
“I can see why.”
“Besides, if we did use them we wouldn’t set one off over a deserted plain
like that and we wouldn’t use just one of them.”
“But you are expecting more of them. You make us stay under the rocks.”
“If there were going to be more we never would have gotten off the plain.
We’re here because of fallout.”
“What is that?”
He turned to her. “Nuclear weapons don’t just make a big explosion. They
produce all kinds of poisonous byproducts. Even if the blast doesn’t get
you you can still sicken or die. That stuff will be coming out of the sky
for the next few hours and it will be dangerous for the next few days.
That blast was a pure air burst so there won’t be as much fallout as there
could have been. The wind is generally away from us so the plume may not
reach us. We may be safe, but I don’t want to take chances.”
“What about Stigi?”
“You see any place around here that could shelter him?”
Karin shook her head reluctantly.
“Besides, he may not be as affected by this stuff as we are.” For all I
know he’s got a nuclear reactor in his gut, Gilligan thought. He wondered
if anyone had ever worked out the dose response tables for a firebreathing
dragon.
There was no rain that night, and no more explosions. Sometime on toward
dawn Gilligan finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep. He dreamed of
ruined deserted cities and Karin with her hair falling out.
He awoke numb and muzzy headed. The sun was above the horizon, Karin was
gone and so was Stigi.
He cast about frantically for a moment, but Karin’s pack and Stigi’s
saddle were still where he had piled them. Obviously Karin expected to be
back soon. Gilligan forced himself to sit down under the overhang and
wait.
Perhaps an hour later Karin led Stigi back up the path and into the