Free Starlighter by Bryan Davis

no doubt about it. Humans have always lived here under the enslaving claws of the dragons. We did not come from another world.”
    “What about promoted slaves? Do they really go to the Northlands?”
    Madam chuckled. “Have you been listening to the boys’ teasing about dragons eating humans?”
    “Well…” Koren glanced at Natalla briefly. “I have heard the rumors.”
    “Don’t you fret,” Madam said, patting her hand. “Dragons despise human meat.”
    “Really? How do you know?”
    Madam pulled her head back. “How do I know? Why, everyone knows that.”
    “Do you know a dragon who has tasted human meat?” Koren asked. “If no dragon likes it, wouldn’t they all have had to try it to know?”
    Madam scowled. “You’re asking nonsense questions.”
    Natalla piped up. “It isn’t nonsense. I was wondering the same thing.”
    “Well, then,” Madam said, “I suppose you have to eat goat manure before you’ll know if you like it.”
    “Ewww!” Natalla and Koren said at once. Petra grimaced.
    A triumphant smile spread across Madam’s face. “You know it’s bad because of its smell and where it came from. The same is true for humans. To them, we smell like manure, and the very thought of eating one of us will cause their younglings to say, ‘Ewww!’”
    Koren looked at Natalla again, this time waiting for her to notice. She still seemed skeptical, very skeptical.
    “But why would I get a Promotion?” Natalla asked. “Wouldn’t the Separators choose someone smarter?”
    Madam waved her hand. “Nonsense. They just think you’re hatched from the black egg.”
    Koren let those words sink in. Someday, or so the prophecy said, the queen dragon would lay a black egg, and although the youngling would begin its life encumbered with physical disadvantages, it would grow into the greatest of dragons. And that legend gave birth to the idiom “Hatched from the black egg,” which even humans have used to encourage children of lesser intelligence or physical abilities.
    “The king of the Northlands,” Madam continued, “wants pliable girls who won’t talk too much. That’s why Koren will never see that great king. She’s too smart and too valuable. Have you ever seen a redhead get a Promotion? I haven’t.”
    Koren’s heart sank. Now that she thought about it, Madam was right. Only the dark-haired girls were ever chosen. Her “cap of fiery brilliance” would keep her in the hot regions forever.
    Madam clapped her hands. “Time for sleep, girls. Tomorrow is another day of sweat and tears.”
    As Koren laid her head down, Madam’s words echoed within. She had repeated that bedtime call every night for months, but this time it pierced Koren’s heart. She formed the words on her lips. Sweat and tears. It was true. Every day brought both the sweat of hard labor and tears of loneliness whenever she allowed thoughts of her parents to break through. Only fleeting images of her mother’s face whisked by, more like a phantom than a living person. Still, she remembered enough to know that Mother was kind. In Koren’s memories, her mother’slovely brow was always smooth, never wrinkled in a scowl or frown.
    No matter how hard she tried, no image of Father ever appeared. Only his voice ever made its way into her sad memories, a bare few words that she sang to herself before going to sleep every night.
    “I love you, little K.”
    As Koren let the usual tears flow, Natalla slid a hand into hers and whispered, “I’m still going. I don’t think Madam knows what’s really true.”
    For a long moment, Koren said nothing. Although the denial that they had come from another world was disappointing, it made a lot of sense. How could a dragon fly beyond the sky? And if the elders had documents that disproved the tale, that pretty much sealed its fate as a myth. Yet the explanations about the Promotions weren’t as convincing. She would have to help Natalla learn the truth.
    Giving Natalla’s hand a