of those who would rule and ensuring peace for countless generations. We can live up to their example. I know we can.”
“Perhaps, but you fail to see the folly of the Reishi,” Bragador said. “The concentration of power that allowed them to ensure peace for so long was the very thing that made them such a potent threat to peace when their power corrupted them, as power inevitably does.”
“So what’s the solution?” Alexander asked, a bit more defiantly than he would have liked.
“Simple … humans must learn to live without government,” Bragador said. “Government, organized force, is the repository of evil. It is the source of corruption, the enemy of civilization and the problem with the world. As long as there is a place where concentrated power resides, it will attract evil people like dung attracts flies. The only solution is to remove the pile of dung.”
“What about crime? What about other countries with powerful governments bent on war? How can there be peace without authority?” Alexander asked.
“Therein lies the human dilemma,” Bragador said. “There will always be those who call for greater and greater control, out of fear or ignorance or greed. Until humanity learns restraint in governance, learns how to limit the power it grants to its leaders, learns that those who crave power over others are always deceivers, your kind will know only war and despair.”
“If we haven’t learned that lesson by now, I doubt we ever will,” Alexander said.
“Some will, most won’t,” Bragador said. “Selfish interest is a powerful motivator. Governments can always be bought or manipulated or blackmailed to set rules that favor some at the expense of others. Evil people see government as a weapon to be used for their own purposes while spreading the lie that it exists to protect the innocent or ensure fairness or defend against some distant threat. The truth is, government has always existed for one single reason … the profit and power of those in government. Of course, there are always those working within government who are good and decent people. But those who vie for power, they can never be trusted.”
“So where does that leave us?” Alexander asked.
“Right back where we started,” Bragador said, “you are a guest in my home, my daughter is smitten with you, and it breaks my heart because it will surely break hers. I will not fight this war for you, Alexander. When you are well enough to travel, I will bid you farewell and hope that you and your complications never return.”
Bragador got up and turned to the door that was not there. Alexander willed it to open with a thought and she started to leave.
“Bragador, I would like to be your friend,” Alexander said.
She stopped, turning to face him again with a sad little smile.
“Alexander, you are my friend,” she said. “If you weren’t, I would have eaten you by now.”
***
She was red with a hint of gold that glistened in the setting sun. Three rows of spikes ran the length of her back beginning with the crown of three horns that swept back from her brow. She banked hard, cutting into the evening breeze and turning impossibly sharp before losing her center of gravity and tumbling through the air out over the ocean.
Alexander held his breath as Anja rolled in the sky, falling out of control. Her wings flared out and started to right her but she tried to gain thrust too quickly and wasn’t strong enough to pull out of the free-fall.
Bragador floated overhead, barking orders to her daughter in the guttural language of the dragons.
Anja spread her wings again, quickly folding them straight up, then gradually spreading them out, inducing a spiral that slowed her until she was able to turn into a dive, lock her wings and begin to ride the air currents back up to the level of the platform where Alexander stood, assisted by a cane, watching her flight practice.
Bragador was a stern taskmistress, running Anja through a grueling series of aerial maneuvers over and over again. Her exacting demands combined with Anja’s hard work paid off with remarkable gains in her ability to fly safely, even while performing some very complicated aerial stunts.
Several days prior, Jack had presented Alexander with a beautiful cane, hand-carved from a piece of driftwood.
Alexander never realized how much he cherished the ability to walk. His leg hurt when he tried to put any weight on it, but he felt exhilarated at the same time. It took a few