Dragon Guard

by Devonnie Asher

  That was as plain as I could make it. There was a chance that the mail sent through the postal system was tampered with, and the last thing I needed was a paper trail incriminating me, Avek and Betheka in a plan to uncover if the headmaster had actually murdered my father. Hopefully, Hakan would read between the lines.

  I hope this letter finds you well. How are you getting on without me? Who cooks for you now that I’m not there? (I know you miss my potatoes!) How are things with the villagers? Have you started venturing into the forest to forage for your own supplies, or are you using that kid next door? Tell me as much as you can. I want to know everything.

  With love,

  Captain Kaos Kressin

  My well of words had run dry.

  Putting everything on the page was more satisfying than I had expected. When the ink dried, I folded the letter, put it in an envelope and scribbled Hakan's address on the outside.

  In the morning, I would take it to the mail master.

  AFTER ANOTHER GRUELING day of classes, I needed a pick-me-up.

  Do you think you can make it home without me?

  Ignimitra and I were in the courtyard of the mess hall, both of us full from dinner. It was still a bit early—the last lights of the sun hadn't yet disappeared—but the telltale signs of exhaustion were all over Ignimitra. Her steps were heavy, her head bobby limply. Not to mention her droopy eyes and lolling tongue.

  I know my way home, even though her voice was weaker than usual. She wasn’t too tired for sarcasm, apparently. Where are you going?

  Stroking her snout, I rested my cheek against her and sighed.

  I'm going to visit Avek.

  She lightened up a bit, then a darkness entered her mind. Is he dying too?

  I shook my head fiercely. No, no, I paused to suck in a breath. He was all bruised up last I saw him. But that was just on the outside.

  So, you're going to talk to him?

  Yes, I am.

  Do you like talking to him? She pressed.

  Sometimes, Ignimitra's fixation on the details annoyed me. I often had to remind myself that she was new to the world, new to human ways of thinking. She didn’t have a mother who pinched her every time she said something out of place.

  I nodded.

  So, he's your friend like Betheka is, then? You visit him just to talk.

  Wrong comparison, angel. Not exactly. Betheka is more of a mentor, Avek is... Her question had heat pooling in my cheeks and gooseflesh rippling down the back of my neck.

  Ignimitra snorted impatiently. He is what?

  I'll explain at another time, Ignimitra. I didn't know what to tell her, or how to even put my feelings into words. I didn't even know what Avek was to me...he was more than a friend, but...

  Fine, she huffed. I hope your explanation will involve why your body temperature rose at the mention of his name. Seems like a human thing.

  Her annoyance sparked a bubble of laughter in the back of my throat.

  Get home safely. I'll be there before you know it.

  She pinned me with an even stare, before nudging me a bit too hard for my liking. My injured leg buckled under me and my rump landed on the paved floor. I glared up at her.

  My apologies, Kaos. Derision dripped from her tone, and she bared her teeth in a smile.

  For a dragon who is so put off by human things, you sure like sarcasm, I said, brushing the dirt from my uniform.

  Ignimitra snickered, looking away bashfully. Then, she took off.

  I stood, watching her until she disappeared behind the skyline of houses. I allowed myself to smile then, amused by her personality. With a grip on the necklace in my pocket, I started on my way to Avek.

  IN HINDSIGHT, I SHOULD have had Ignimitra take me to the infirmary.

  By the time I made it there, my skin was coated with a thin layer of sweat. It felt like the soles of my shoes had been replaced by a prickling of fine needles. My bad leg ached all over.

  I was met by the same cheerful nurse in the foyer.

  "Captain Kressin, right?" She asked me with a smile, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

  "Yes," I said, taken aback that she remembered me. She either had impressive memory or few soldiers walked into this place. "Does Captain Larsgard have any visitors now?"

  She thumbed through the thick book in front of her.

  News of Avek's return had spread through the Guard by this. The last thing I wanted was to walk in on someone else's visit, or have someone walk in on mine.

  "It doesn't look that way, no."

  I took a deep breath, steeling myself for the question I was about to ask.

  "Do you think you could hold his visits...at least until mine is finished?"

  A smile crept its way to her face. I know my question was strange, but it was clear that she was reading into it more than I wanted to. She leaned over, like we were trading secrets.

  "You're asking me to give you guys some privacy?" She whispered.

  I glanced around the foyer. The nurses seemed busy with their tasks, paying me little attention. Heat snaked up the back of my neck.

  Nodding, I tried to explain. "We were on the same team when he went missing, I'd just like to catch up with him...alone."

  She seemed to mull over my statement.

  "We aren't really supposed to do this, but..." she shrugged, picking up a red-inked pen and jotting something in the book. "I can close his visits for the rest of the evening."

  My heart sang.

  "Is he still in the same room?" I had committed the number memory.

  She nodded.

  "Thank you..." I didn't know her name.

  "Luztra," she supplied. "Luztra Juun."

  "Thanks, Luztra."

  I hurried to the staircase.

  I STOOD OUTSIDE AVEK's room composing myself longer than I would've admitted to anyone. The ascent only exacerbated my tiredness, not to mention the knot in my stomach from knowing that I was going to see him.

  Knock, knock.

  Beyond the door, I heard the scrape of a chair then heavy footfalls. My heart was in my ears by the time the door swung open.

  Avek looked so much better than the last time I saw him.

  He was beginning to regain his color, deepening to the rich dark skin that I remembered. He'd gained a little weight too, though he still looked thinner than usual. Most of his welts had disappeared and his scars had darkened to scabs. Even his hair was better kept—it was still long, but styled into fine braids.

  Before I could stop myself, I was rushing towards him.

  Avek captured me in a tight hug, wrapping his arms around me. I buried my head in his chest, breathing him in. He smelled so much like what I remembered, like a fresh breath of forest air, and a little bit of what I didn't, like eucalyptus and peppermint. Perhaps it was the healing potions they'd been using on him.

  When we broke apart, he wore a smile that nearly touched his ears. I must’ve looked the same, for my cheeks tingled.

  "I was wondering when you'd come to see me again. I thought I had imagined your visit," his breath was warm on my forehead. "I wanted to go looking for you, but they won't let me leave this place." With an arm around my shoulder, he guided us to a seat on his bed.

  I was acutely aware of everything—his hands on me, how close our bodies were—and it dizzied me. From happiness or terror, I couldn't tell.

  "Finding the time was difficult," I said, clearing my throat. "Things are hectic for us." I poked him gently in the side. "You'd better listen to the nurses; you really aren't in the best shape to be wandering around."

  This close, I could see that Avek was still ill.

  There were valleys beneath his eyes, and his shoulders drooped ever so slightly. His form was still strong, but there was no hiding that he was a shadow of the man he had once been.

  He pinned me with an intent gaze. I sucked in a breath, nearly losing myself in his bottomless coal eyes. Avek took one of my hands in his, rubbing the pad of his thumb over
the back of mine. I lost track of how long we sat like that, shoulder to shoulder, holding hands, just staring at each other in silence. On paper it should have been awkward, but it felt like exactly where I should have been.

  "You're different," he said in a low tone.

  I raised an eyebrow, startled. "How?"

  He chewed his lower lip, raking his eyes over my face.

  "In a good way, I mean," he continued. "You look...wiser than when I saw you last."

  A light chuckle escaped me. "I have learned a lot." It didn't seem sufficient. "So much has changed, Avek. I don't even know where to start."

  He loosed the hand around my shoulder to take my other hand in his.

  "Alright, well..." He paused to look down at our joined hands. "I'll tell you what I've heard, and you can fill in the blanks."

  I furrowed my brows. "What have you heard?"

  "I have my way of knowing things," he chuckled, seemingly delighted by my confusion. "You and Ignimitra are probably the most interesting thing that has happened on this mountain in years. People talk."

  I shrugged. "Fine, shoot." I couldn't imagine any soldiers that Avek rubbed shoulders with would have anything good to say about me. Maybe only Jules.

  "I heard that you and Ignimitra are the first dragon-tamer pair ever to achieve a second-tier fusion bond so soon," he said, a slight smile on his lips.

  I lowered my eyes to the ground. "Well, that is true." A finger on my chin brought my eyes back to his.

  "And I heard that you two are now living in the Peak and training with first-year enlisted soldiers."

  I didn't look away this time. "That's true too."

  "What did I miss?"

  Laughing, I rolled my eyes. "It felt like so much more than that."

  He started laughing too—his boyish laugh and the way it affected me hadn't changed. The sound washed me with a wave of happiness.

  We fell silent again for a few heartbeats.

  "I missed you," the words left me before I had the good sense to bite my tongue.

  He squeezed my hands. “I missed you too." Heat blossomed in my chest. If I hadn't known before then, it was clear now. Avek took up so much space in my heart that those words felt like a missing piece of it.

  "Now that you're here, I feel like I can actually do this thing. It's been so hard without you," I looked away from him then, my eyes burning. The tears threatened, but I willed them not to fall.

  "I know you can," his hand massaged my back. "I believe in you Kaos. You and Ignimitra escaped when even Nurik and I couldn’t. Don't discredit your strength." My eyes flickered to his at the mention of that fated day. How could he talk about it so casually when it had altered our lives so greatly?

  "It's just..." my voice cracked. "It's just that I feel like I'm drowning. I've only been to a handful of classes and I've already almost died. Twice."

  To prove my point, I hiked up my pants on my injured leg. By this, I had stopped wearing bandages on it, but the remnant of the dragonsnake’s corrosive poison was still there. My skin looked rubbed raw, pale and peeling in the worst spots.

  Avek leaned down, examining it.

  "Who did this to you?" There was urgency in his voice, and if I had to guess it sounded a little bit like anger.

  "Not who," I shook a finger at him. "What. That's dragonsnake venom."

  Avek squinted, his face betraying his disbelief.

  "Dragonsnake venom?" He lowered his voice till it was barely more than a whisper.

  I nodded. Betheka's warning sprung to life in my mind then. I trusted Avek with my life, but I wasn't sure how thin the walls of the hospital room were. Beyond the double doors on the other end of his room, lay a well-lit balcony with two chairs.

  "Let's sit out there," I pointed to the chairs. "I'll explain."

  He obliged, turning the chairs to face each other so he could look at me. Gently, he rested my leg in his lap so he could get a better look at it. The intimacy of his touch sent shockwaves through me.

  "We had a training session in Hiddenbrook Forest," I whispered. "The dragonsnake in the chasm attacked me."

  "How did you..." his eyes widened, and he seemed hesitant to ask the question.

  "I only survived because of Ignimitra," his face grew solemn. "If it weren't for her, I would've died."

  Avek seemed deep in thought at my words. I didn't have to ask if he knew that dragonsnake venom had no antidote. It was written all over his face.

  "How many people know what you survived?" He didn't try to hide the urgency in his voice.

  "Just you, Betheka and Ignimitra of course," I said. Then, another thought crossed my mind. "Oh, Cuinn and Commander Ofisi as well."

  His gaze hardened at the mention of the last two names.

  "Why do they know?"

  I tried to hide the flush of heat that made its way to my cheeks.

  "Commander Ofisi was the instructor, he was the one who granted me permission to see Betheka, " I said. "And it was Cuinn who asked him and forced me to go to her. I was too paralyzed to walk, so he took me there. I blacked out on the way, so I’m not really sure if anyone else knows.”

  "Cuinn Dorran?" Avek asked.

  I nodded, thinking of the wiry soldier with the red hair.

  "Hm." He leaned back in his chair, looking out at the expanse of forest below us. Avek's balcony had a view of the forest line and the sprawling mountains, making it extremely private. He seemed a little angry, a look I had only seen on him a handful of times. "He carried you, then."

  "Yes but..." my sentence trailed off when I realized that he was scowling. It hit me like a bolt of lightning. "Are you jealous? Of Cuinn?"

  Avek's eyes snapped to mine. His scowl deepened, then he looked away while crossing his arms. His profile was harsh, his coal eyes darkening like an overcast sky.

  Oh. My. Gosh.

  That was all the confirmation I needed. I had to bite my lips to stop myself from laughing. The Avek Larsgard was jealous. About me. It made me happier than I liked to admit.

  "I don't like Cuinn," I offered, a smile tugging at my lips. It took everything in me not to let how much I was enjoying this show on my face.

  His hard exterior faltered, his lips twitching as I spoke.

  "Seriously, I don't know why he even cared."

  Avek opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. Little by little, his expression softened until he just looked troubled—his full lips were pulled into a pout. I wanted to freeze this moment in time so I could revisit it whenever I wanted. This was the moment I discovered that Avek had feelings for me too. Real feelings.

  "I don't want to talk about it," he swatted his hand, finally addressing the elephant in the room. He was about ready to move on, and I wasn't going to stand in his way. I had all I needed.

  "Betheka told me about Pyralis' history with dragonsnake venom," I said, picking up where we had left off. "I know to keep it a secret."

  He sighed heavily, his shoulders shaking. "It's Commander Ofisi that's troubling me. He's a real kiss-ass. He’ll do anything to end up on the Headmaster’s good side."

  My breath caught.

  "Do you think he would tell the Headmaster?"

  "It's not a matter of if, it's when," Avek's pronouncement was grim. "Especially now that we're preparing for war." The ramifications of his statement weren't lost on me.

  "But don't worry about it too much," his voice lightened. "I'm here again. I'll protect you. I promise."

  From my very first day at the Academy, Avek had been there to protect me. I didn't doubt that he'd continue to. But his mention of the war reminded me of something I needed to ask him.

  Bringing my chair closer to his, I leaned over.

  "Jules mentioned that the enemy coalition would choose to attack the Academy over the Fire Drakken's Palace. Why is that?" I whispered, watching him with careful eyes.

  Avek sucked in a breath. He looked over his shoulder before speaking.

  "There's a belief amon
g the inner circle of the Guard that..." he paused, taking another breath. "That the Fire Drakken is just a puppet for the Headmaster."

  My thoughts screeched to a halt.

  "Puppet?" My tongue felt heavy. "But, he's the Fire Drakken. He's supposed to be the strongest in the land. He’s our leader. Right?"

  Avek laughed softly, the sound filled with something like pity.

  "I don't want to get into the details here," he was still whispering. "But there have been whispers about it for years. Somehow, The Headmaster is always able to get the Fire Drakken to agree with him, even in the most ridiculous situations. Sometimes, he makes the decision before consulting him."

  His words felt like a millstone on my shoulders. The more I learned about this place, the more disturbed I felt. Avek gripped my face in his hands, distracting me from the mounting confusion darkening in my mind.

  "Hey, look at me," my eyes found his slowly. They were warm, like oozing tar. "Don't get too deep into worrying about that now. You're already dealing with a lot."

  He brought my forehead to his lips. My skin was aflame from his touch, but the storm in my mind abated enough for me to smile and wrap my fingers around his wrists.

  "Thank you," I said softly.

  He nodded, smiling a pearly white smile.

  Just then, the weight in my pocket reminded me of another task I had. I fished the necklace out of my pocket, holding it in my outstretched palm between us.

  "I think this is yours," I said.

  Recognition flashed in his eyes. He took it from me, turning the blue stone between his fingers, his jack slack.

  "Where did you find this?" A bead of water glittered in the corner of his eye.

  I looked away sheepishly, a hand rubbing the back of my neck.

  "It was in one of the tents at the Astraphotian camp," I said, recalling the memory. "Now I can finally return it to you."

  Avek looked at it for a long second, his lips set in a hard line. For a moment, I thought I had upset him again until the tears that had been in the corner of his eye fell. I felt my own eyes begin to burn.