by Martha Carr
“Finally.” She scooped her satchel up and slung it over her shoulder. “I’ll be fast, I promise. Good luck with your meeting.”
“You too.” Reggie smiled. Don gave her a little salute and the two men fell into hushed conversation again.
“Through those doors, Miss Alby. Thank you for your patience.”
I wasn’t really that patient, but okay. She smiled at him and stepped into the next room. The man pulled the doors shut behind her and she paused to take in the interior. She stood on the door side of a gigantic table in the middle of another massive room. This one looked more like a study with books crammed into shelves along either wall, and the man seated at the head of the table on her right gave her a curt nod.
“What can I do for you, Miss…”
“Raven Alby.” She stepped forward and extended her hand. “You’re Magister Verdeel?”
The middle-aged man with dark circles under his eyes looked at her in surprise and shook her hand. “Yes, I am. You must have come from far away to see me if you didn’t already know my face.”
“Only from Brighton.”
“Only.” He chuckled and ran a hand through his light-blond hair. “That’s quite a ride. It takes most of the morning, as I remember it.”
“Not on a dragon.”
Magister Verdeel cleared his throat. “Excuse me?”
Here we go again. “I’m a student at Fowler Academy with a dragon familiar. Headmaster Flynn sent me to bring you a letter. Here.” She thunked her satchel onto the table and rummaged inside to retrieve the sealed scroll with the man’s name on it. “That’s all I came for.”
The man took the scroll gently but didn’t open it. “You’re the young mage who fought on a dragon at the Tournament of Mages.”
“Yes.”
“And singlehandedly saved the governor’s wife from raider abduction.”
“No. Not singlehandedly. I had Leander, Bella Chase, and her familiar Wesley with me too. It was a team effort.”
“Interesting.” Magister Verdeel raised his chin and studied her curiously. “I must have heard vastly changed versions of the same story.”
“Probably. Whoever said I did all that on my own doesn’t really know what they’re talking about.” That comment made the man laugh, and she smiled. “Bella was the other first-year at the tournament. She deserves as much credit for helping the governor’s wife as I do.”
“Indeed. I must say, I’m quite impressed, Miss Alby. The stories don’t quite do you justice.”
Raven buckled her satchel and slung it over her shoulders. “Thanks.”
“Hmm. Headmaster Flynn certainly has a flair for the dramatic, sending you all the way to Dresdel on a dragon. Is there anything else you wanted to discuss with me?”
“Not really. I have a few other letters to deliver, so I should be on my way. Thanks for your time.”
“Thank you, Miss Alby.” The man smiled and nodded once before he returned his attention to the sealed scroll.
Raven spun and headed quickly to the double doors. When she pushed them open and stepped into the hall, three more people were seated in the chairs lined up against the walls. Don and Reggie watched her with confused frowns as she passed them.
“Only a super quick meeting,” she muttered and gave them a thumbs-up. “Good luck.”
She forced herself to walk down the hall although she wanted to run, and the man behind the desk called out someone else’s name. I seriously hope there aren’t any holdups at the next two towns.
The front door to the town hall opened smoothly, and Raven stepped out onto the top step. The sky glowed with the orange and pink rays of sunset, and she looked at the clocktower in the center of the square. “Are you kidding me? How was I in there for over three hours?”
The young mage raced down the steps and across the center of Dresdel toward the road to the Haverson Dragon Ranch. I hope Leander’s okay. If he wasn’t, he would’ve sent me some kind of image but I think we ran out of time.
Chapter Nineteen
The sun had almost completely set by the time Raven could see the outbuildings of Haverson Dragon Ranch. There’s no way we’ll make it to the other towns and back to Fowler before dark. Not even slightly after.
She paused beside the small inn on her right and sighed. “I guess this counts as an emergency.”
The door creaked open when she stepped inside the inn, and a woman with a head of tight copper curls looked up from behind the bar. “Hello.”
“Hi.” She approached cautiously and lowering her satchel slowly from her shoulders. “I hope you have a room open. Only for the night.”
“We have more than enough rooms, miss. The fine location of this inn makes sure of that.”
“I’m sorry?”
The woman chuckled and wiped her hands on her apron. “Being so close to Haverson Ranch down the way. My grandfather thought it would be a swell place to open an inn, and the family never left. Some people don’t mind being this close to dragons overnight. Most people do.”
“Oh.” Raven laughed and nodded. “I know what you mean. And I definitely don’t have a problem with being this close to dragons.” I’d prefer to be closer, but this isn’t turning out to be my day. “I’d still like to rent a room.”
“Brave girl. It’s two silver for the night. A third’ll get you supper and breakfast in the morning.”
“Great. Let’s do that.” The young mage propped her satchel on her knee and opened it to take Headmaster Flynn’s coin purse out. When she opened the drawstring, her eyes widened. This is more gold than I’ve ever seen all in one place. What was he thinking? “Sorry. I gotta find them.”
“Take your time.” The woman smiled and watched the girl dig around in a plain brown coin purse.
“Here.” She set the three silver on the counter and nodded. “Thank you.”
“I should thank you, miss. We haven’t had a new face around here in months.” The woman peered over her shoulder toward the room in the back, then leaned forward and whispered, “Honestly, I’m very tired of seeing the same old faces week after week.”
“I’m happy to help.”
Laughing, her hostess took a large key from under the bar and nodded toward the staircase on the other side of the inn. “Right this way.”
Raven followed her up the stairs and down a short hallway. They stopped at the first door on the left and her guide opened it and handed her the key. “Return this in the morning before you leave. It’s the only one.”
“No problem.”
“And Clive’ll whip somethin’ up for you as soon as you’re hungry. Are you hungry?”
“Not yet. I have to make one more stop first but it shouldn’t take too long.”
“That’s fine. You come let me know when you’re ready.” The woman paused at the stairs. “Oh, my name’s Celeste. Don’t hesitate to shout for me if I’m not where you can see me.”
“Thanks.”
With another happy nod, Celeste descended the staircase and resumed her post behind the bar.
Raven peered into the room and sighed. This is good enough for one night. I can’t believe I actually have to do this. She lowered her satchel to the floor beside the door, then locked up and hurried down the stairs.
It only took her five minutes at a powerwalk to reach her destination, and the last of the sunlight was fading quickly. Jim stepped out of the stables and gave a low whistle. “That was one long hour, Raven Alby.”
“You’re telling me. Is everything okay here?”
He chuckled. “Oh, yeah. That dragon of yours is settling in just fine.”
“Thanks.” She raced along the fence and scanned the dragons out in the field. I never thought I’d try to identify him in the dark. She cupped her hands around her mouth and took a deep breath, but the screech of greeting she recognized cut her off. “There you are.”
She ran the rest of the way toward Leander, who practically skipped toward the fence, his wings stretched wide and flu
ttering at her approach. “Raven—”
“I’m so sorry, Leander. The people at the Town Hall made me wait forever.”
“It’s not—”
“They didn’t have any clocks or windows or anything, and I didn’t know what time it was until I got outside. Flynn didn’t say anything about having to wait in line to deliver a few letters—”
“Stop talking.” Leander snorted and lowered his head toward her. “I’m fine.”
“Right.” She chuckled and stroked his muzzle affectionately. “I thought you would be but I got back here as fast as I could. I’m sorry it took me so long.”
“I hardly noticed you were gone.” He hissed in laughter and swished his powerful tail across the grass.
“Thanks.”
Janice approached from the far corner of the paddock with a wave. “I never thought I’d say this about a dragon,” she shouted, “but Leander’s been a real peach.”
Raven laughed and rubbed her hand down her dragon’s neck. “Is that right?”
“Everyone’s favorite.” The woman stopped beside the young mage and put a hand on her hip as she grinned at Leander. “Even with Ignatius, and that’s saying something.”
“You made friends with Ignatius?”
“No.” Leander nudged her hand again. “But I didn’t make any enemies.”
“And that’s sayin’ something.” Janice chuckled. “Ignatius is the big golden-brown one trottin’ along after Harold out there.”
“So you didn’t make enemies with the biggest dragon on the ranch.” Raven smirked. “Good work, Leander.”
“I didn’t even try.”
“We’ve started putting everyone up for the night,” Janice added. “I was about to call Leander over here for a little conversation about giving him his own stall until you got back. It looks like that wasn’t necessary.”
“Actually, I think it might be.” She wrinkled her nose at Leander with a shrug. “Sorry. That stupid waiting room took all the time we had. Do you mind staying here?”
“For one night?” The dragon snorted. “How will I survive?”
“Ha!” Janice slapped her thigh. “How indeed. He’s more than welcome to stay here, Raven. Leander, why don’t you meet us at the gate outside the stables? I’ll show you both where you’ll put up for the night.”
“Thanks, Janice.”
“Anytime, Raven Alby. And I mean that, girl. Absolutely any time. Your dragon familiar is the life of the party, I’ll say that much.” The woman jerked her head in the direction the fence ran. “I’ll meet you over there.”
Raven watched Leander stare after the dragon trainer and folded her arms. “Life of the party, huh?”
“I can be charming.”
“When you want to be.” They headed toward the stables with the fence between them. “I’m glad you actually did have fun.”
“It’s a new experience. I have fun with you, of course.”
“But these are other dragons. I get it. Haverson Ranch seems like a good place with good people.”
“I agree.”
“Right on over here, Leander.” Janice gestured toward an open stall on the end. “We cleaned it yesterday.”
“What about you, Raven?” Her dragon spoke calmly but she sensed his concern for her.
She pointed east toward the inn, which was now only a dark shadow in the fading light. “I have a room and I’ll be back here first thing in the morning to get you.”
“All right.” He sniffed the air and raised his head toward Janice. “Food. Good night, Raven.”
“I hope it’s good.” Chuckling, she returned to the road and waved at Janice and her ranch hands on the way. It’s a little weird that he’s so okay with all this. But I’ll take it over a repeat of Azerad any day.
After a surprisingly delicious dinner as the only patron present at the inn, Raven wished Celeste and Clive—a short, squat man with no facial hair and a shiny, bald head—good night and headed to her room. She took her satchel off the floor and brought it with her to the bed. “A ridiculous amount of money for emergencies and a calling potion. At least Flynn makes sure his messengers are prepared.”
She pulled out the bright-purple calling potion and uncorked before she drew her arm back and muttered, “Tractoria Aiden Flynn,” and tossed the potion out of the vial. The wave of purple liquid sloshed and hovered in mid-air in front of her. It opened into a much less detailed view than the Full Appearance spell afforded. That’s definitely his office.
“Headmaster?”
Flynn looked up quickly from his desk and seemed startled. He removed the spectacles resting on his nose and chuckled. “Good evening, Miss Alby.”
“Hi. I’m, uh…using the potion to tell you Leander and I won’t be back at Fowler tonight. It’s already dark and we’re only outside Dresdel.”
“Is that so? I hope you didn’t run into too much trouble.”
She rolled her eyes. “No. Only incredibly long wait times to see Magister Verdeel. Like, almost five hours.”
“Oh, dear.” The headmaster tugged his beard and leaned back in his chair. “I had no idea it would take you that long.”
“Yeah, me neither. That’s why we haven’t finished getting your letters out there. I have two more left, and we’ll get to them tomorrow. You gave me the calling potion, so I thought I should probably use it. And I already booked a room for the night. I’m at the inn near Haverson Dragon Ranch.”
Flynn raised his eyebrows and laughed again. “That’s fine. I’ll make sure your professors are aware of why you’ll be absent in the morning. And before I forget, Mr. Smith came by during dinner a few hours ago asking for you. Should I deliver any messages for you, Miss Alby?”
Crap. I totally forgot about Daniel. “Uh, no thanks, Headmaster. I’ll tell him what happened when I get back.”
“Very well. I appreciate the update, Miss Alby. I’ll watch for your return around mid-morning tomorrow. Good night.” Flynn waved his hand through the image.
“Good ni—” Raven sighed and her shoulders slumped. “I guess he didn’t need a response.”
She watched the shimmering circle of the calling potion fade into nothing, recorked the vial, and tossed it into her satchel. “It’s easy cleanup for a potion you have to throw.”
The young mage kicked her boots off and climbed under the covers of the small but immensely comfortable bed in her rented room. Once she’d turned down the lantern on the table beside her bed, she pulled the sheets up over her shoulders and sank into the pillow.
We’ll start over in the morning. And I’ll make sure I don’t wait five hours again simply to hand over a letter.
Chapter Twenty
Raven slept dreamlessly for the first half of the night, and when the first dream came to her, it didn’t last long. Everything was burning, engulfed in flames, and terrified dragons darted in all directions as they leapt, flew, swooped, and screeched at the sky.
She bolted upright in her bed at the inn and gasped. “Woah. Where the hell did that come from?”
Fighting to slow her racing heart, she took slow, deep breaths and paused.
Somewhere outside, more than one dragon screeched. In the next moment, dozens of dragon voices rose in the darkness, soft over the distance but unmistakable. “Leander.”
Alarmed, she tossed the covers off and leapt out of bed to thrust her feet into her work boots. She tied the laces quickly to keep them from falling off before she snatched her satchel up and sprinted out of the room. Her running footsteps pounded down the staircase, and she stumbled blindly across the inn’s main room before her eyes adjusted to the darkness.
The front door of the inn thwacked against the wall when she threw it open, and the young mage didn’t even consider the other guests or the inn’s proprietors she might have awakened with all the noise.
As soon as she turned down the road toward Haverson Ranch, she saw the flames. Thick black smoke rose in columns against the night sky, clearly visible even in the d
arkness. The dark shapes of the Haverson dragons were scattered across the field as they shrieked at each other and their trainers and whatever had riled them up like this.
That wasn’t a dream. It came from Leander!
By the time she reached the stables, she could hardly see a thing through the smoke. She coughed, waved it out of her face, and tried to ignore the chaos around her as she headed to her dragon’s stall.
“Leander!”
“Raven! I’m here!” He snorted and poked his head out of the open window.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you still in there? The stables are on fire.”
He glanced at the flames that consumed the ceiling above him and lowered his head. “I was waiting for you. Stand back.”
She stopped short and jogged to a safe distance as he pounded his bulk through the burning frame of his stall. Flaming splinters of wood scattered in all directions, and the young mage turned and ducked to cover her face. His muzzle nudged her shoulder, his scales warmed by the heat of the flames he’d endured until she reached him.
Raven spun and threw both arms around his head in a tight hug. “I’m glad you waited, but I’m not sure waiting in the fire was the smartest option.”
“I breathe fire, Raven. Obviously, it doesn’t burn me.”
“Right.” She released him and turned to take in the destruction all around them. Huge swaths of the dragon paddock were on fire and the air was still filled with smoke and so many different voices that shrieked and called in confusion and fear.
Halfway across the field, Harold raised his hands in front of the slender yellow dragon and tried to calm her as she screamed and stamped and tossed her head. Two other dragons barreled into each other head-on, cried out as they fell together, and scrambled on top of each other to be the first one back on their feet.
“Have you seen Jim and Janice?” she asked as she struggled to see through the flames.