by Simon Archer
“Where is everybody?” I asked, looking all around to make sure I wasn’t missing people.
“The Warriors are out at their posts, and the Witnesses are inside, preparing for the Warriors to return,” she replied, sounding bored. Bored was better than peeved, though.
“I guess if I ask you what a Warrior and Witness is, you’d roll your eyes through your voice at me again?” I tossed out. She stopped so abruptly I was two steps ahead of her before I stopped. Turning, I grinned at her.
“I know you have questions, but I’m more of a show, than a tell, person. Put on your patience hat, and you’ll get all the answers you need,” she told me.
I shrugged and smiled at her. The furrow in her brow softened slightly, and she started shaking her head slowly. She brushed away a stray hair from her face and looked up at me. I don’t know how I’d missed it before, but right then, I noticed how strong she looked. The muscle tone on her arms and legs was defined but not bulky. Her strength had definite femininity to it, and my body reacted immediately to the sight of her at that moment. I was, for the first time since I’d been in my car, starting to feel a bit more like myself.
“Patience hat it is, then,” I told her, turning around to keep my attraction to her hidden. She stepped up alongside me, and we continued walking. I glanced down at the top of her head and grinned. “Do you know where I can buy one of those?” She immediately punched me in the arm.
“Shut up,” she said, although not rudely. My mind had already moved on, though. When mentioning buying a hat, a harsh reality struck me. I didn’t have any money. I didn’t have anywhere to stay for the night, which Deyla had pointed out was rapidly approaching. I didn’t even have a change of clothes. I glanced down at myself and was instantly self-conscious. I was still covered in dirt.
“Shit!” I whispered to myself, brushing my shirt off with my hands, doing little to improve the mess I was.
“Don’t worry about all that right now,” Deyla said, putting her hand on my arm briefly as we walked.
“Worry about what?” I asked, confused. Of course, I was worrying, but I hadn’t said anything.
“You’ll have a place to stay tonight, and we’ll get you cleaned up,” she replied as though it was perfectly natural for her to know my thoughts.
“Do you read peoples’ minds too?” I asked, astonished. She chuckled a little.
“No, but I am a bit of a natural empath, and body language says more than people realize. Plus, if you pay attention to what people say, and their mood immediately after, it’s rather easy to tell what they are most likely thinking,” she told me.
“That’s as close to a mind reader as you can get without actually hearing the thoughts in my head!” I said, trying to make light of my situation. I wasn’t sure I was comfortable with someone being so in tune with what I was thinking, especially since I was completely out of my element. I was literally an entire world away from my comfort zone.
“I have no desire to read your mind,” Deyla told me as she stopped walking.
She turned to her right, and I followed suit. We were standing in front of one of the mansion houses, but it was different from the others. I’d been so preoccupied, I hadn’t noticed us walking up on it. The building was lighter than its neighboring houses, almost sand-colored. There were colorful paintings along all the trim lines and lush, glowing green vines growing up the chimney. The doorway was white with a high arch, and the staircase leading up to it was at least fifteen steps high.
Deyla started up the stairs while I stared in awe at the largeness of the place. It reminded me of the capitol buildings in big cities, it was so big. When I noticed Deyla had reached the top of the stairs, I rushed up after her.
“Is this where the Aron person you mentioned lives?” I asked as we approached the door.
“Yes. She lives here along with her best Warriors, and the newest ones who are in training,” Deyla said. I’d assumed Aron was a man until that moment.
“How many of those does she have?” I still wasn’t sure what a Warrior was. The word implied some sort of soldier-type person, but the vibe I got when Deyla talked about them didn’t fit that description.
“Right now, she has seven Warriors and four newbies,” she replied, reaching to lift a heavy knocker and bang it on the door. The huge door which was at least two stories high immediately began to open. A young girl, about twelve years old, appeared and smiled when she saw Deyla. She appeared to be about to hug her when her eyes shifted to me, and she recoiled before looking back to Deyla for guidance.
“He’s with me,” Deyla told the girl. “We need to see Aron right away.”
“Of course,” the girl replied, swinging the door open further so we could enter. Before we could walk through, however, she ran out and hugged Deyla like a long-lost relative. “I’m so happy to see you! Will you be staying?”
Deyla wrapped her arms around the girl and held her tight for a moment before releasing her and stepping back. They both regained a professional composure.
“I will not,” Deyla answered. I was very interested in where she was going later as I assumed I’d be going with her. The girl stepped aside, disappointment flashed across her face, and she motioned us inside. As we crossed the threshold, I had to blink to adjust to the dimness of the house compared to the sunshine outside. When I could see better, I found myself standing in a massive foyer, on a black marble floor. The ceilings were vaulted and had multiple rows of candle sconces. Each and every candle was lit, but that wasn’t where all the light in the room was coming from. When I looked straight up, I caught sight of a skylight the size of the room above me.
“This is really something,” I whispered, feeling like I should be library-quiet for some reason.
“Come on,” Deyla replied, ignoring my awe.
I snapped back to attention and followed her as she guided me across the foyer and through double doors leading to an adjoining room. The room was much smaller, though still sizable, and had several groupings of furniture throughout it.
Deyla pointed her finger at the chair nearest the back wall of the room.
“Sit down. I’ll be right back.” She didn’t wait for me to comply before she exited the room.
I made my way to the back of the room. The entire back wall was a fireplace, and it was giving off more heat the closer I got. By the time I reached the seat she had instructed me to sit in, I wasn’t entirely sure I’d be able to sit there long due to the high temperature. I took a deep breath and sat in the tightly woven wicker chair that was across from two leather-looking recliners. I’d no more than gotten settled when Deyla returned. She wasn’t alone, however.
“This is Aron,” she said curtly to me as she stepped aside to reveal the woman behind her.
I nearly gasped at her beauty. She was a good six-feet tall and toned all over. She was wearing similar clothing to Deyla’s, but hers were all black. She had twisted her jet-black hair into careful braids with the top half pulled back and fastened in a leather strap. The braids were near to her rear in the back and accented her overly tan skin.
While her tan skin was a stark contrast to Deyla’s paleness, it was Aron’s eyes that fascinated me. They were black in the middle, as though her pupils were larger than they should be and faded to royal purple on the outer edge of her irises. I couldn’t decide if they made her look fierce, or demon-like, but either way, she was breathtaking. She was staring at me like I was some foreign object she was evaluating for destruction. I stood up and held my hand out to her.
“Hello, Aron,” I said, doing a decent job at hiding my nervousness. “I’m pleased to meet you. You have a beautiful home.” I resorted to tried-and-true pleasantries as I had no idea what I should say to the woman.
“What is your name?” Aron asked abruptly. She glanced at Deyla disapprovingly, and I realized she’d never asked me what my name was. Deyla shot a dirty look back at her. I put my hand back at my side when it was clear I wasn’t going to be shaking Aro
n’s.
“Blake Masters,” I replied. Aron stepped around me and sat in one of the recliners, indicating that I should take my seat as well. When I sat down, Deyla taking a spot in the second recliner, Aron leaned forward and stared at me.
“Blake Masters,” she started. “What are you doing here?” I thought the question extremely odd because I thought I was sitting before this woman to find out why I was there.
“My guess is as good as yours!” I replied. A strange tiredness had started to set in, and I felt as though my ability to bullshit was long gone. The seriousness in the room was soul-sucking at the moment.
“I do not guess,” Aron said. “Deyla tells me you have some sort of magic with the dragons?”
“I don’t know what it is. All I know is when I was riding on Prenna, I could feel how she felt. I could feel her emotions. Also, there was a strange energy I felt. It’s hard to explain.” I wasn’t sure how to describe my flight experience further than that.
“Interesting,” Aron whispered, looking at Deyla. She stood up, and Deyla joined her in standing. “Come, we have to go.” Aron’s voice was louder and rather commanding, but I wasn’t in the mood to shuffle around aimlessly anymore.
“Where are we going?” I asked without standing. I didn’t want to give them the impression I was willing to leave until I got some answers. Aron glared down and me.
“We are taking you to see Gale,” she snapped.
“No, we are not. You are,” Deyla corrected her sternly. “I’m going home.” Aron nodded as though she should’ve known.
“Thank you, Deyla. You’ve done an excellent job today. Please tell Prenna what a queen she is as well,” Aron told her. Deyla grinned and dipped her head slightly. She glanced at me as the grin left her face, replaced by what looked like worry.
“I will tell her,” Deyla said, still looking at me. Then she quickly turned and walked out of the room. It shocked me that she’d just left me there and jumped up out of my chair.
“Why am I not going with her?” I nearly yelled.
“Because you are coming with me,” Aron answered, unphased. “I thought that much was clear.”
“There isn’t a damn thing that is clear,” I shot back. “Who are you? What are Warriors? Witnesses? Who is Gale? I’m going to walk my ass back to where I fell out of the sky and climb a cloud to get out of here if someone doesn’t tell me what is going on. Deyla said I’d have somewhere to stay, and then she takes off. What the hell is going on here?” I hadn’t meant to throw a tantrum quite that dramatic, but once it was out, I felt better. Aron waited for me to finish and took a long breath, letting it out slowly as if she’d needed to in order to control her emotions.
“The Warriors and Witnesses explanation can wait. It will be here later for you to learn about,” she started. My temper flared at her immediate denial of information, but she continued before I had a chance to protest. “You will have somewhere to stay tonight, clean clothes, and food. I’ll be taking you to them. Gale is the Headmistress at Ponatha Tri-Academy. That is where we are going.” She crossed her arms and looked at me, daring me to ask another question.
“What is the Tri-Academy? Some sort of school?” I asked stubbornly, but with more control.
“Yes, a school of sorts,” she answered with a touch of sarcasm. “I realize you want to know everything all at once but consider this, Mister Masters… You just fell into an entirely new world. I can nearly guarantee you didn’t even know everything about the one you came from, so why the rush to learn everything here in a single day? We are not keeping anything from you, I promise.” I glared at her as her words sank in, and I was begrudgingly in agreement with her.
“Yeah, I can see your point,” I replied quietly, not wanting to admit I was wrong. “However, since I’m going to this Tri-Academy, can you tell me if that is where I will stay tonight?”
Aron immediately nodded.
“Yes, you will stay there. Now, let’s go before the sun is down. It gets colder than you’d expect at night here,” she stated firmly.
I held my hands out, signaling her to lead the way, and she spun around. I followed her out of the room and back into the foyer. On the side opposite the room we’d been in, a small staircase was tucked against the wall. It was so well camouflaged that I hadn’t seen it when I had first entered. She went straight to it and started up.
I continued to follow her, and soon, we had climbed through two additional floors of the house. Finally, the staircase came to an end, but it dead-ended into a door above our heads on the ceiling of the third floor. Aron put her hand on the door, closed her eyes, and mumbled something to herself. The lock mechanism clicked, and Aron pushed the door open easily. A moment later, we were standing on the roof of the massive house.
“You’ve got quite the view from up here,” I commented, admiring the ability to see the entire town from her roof.
“Yes, it is a good protection measure,” Aron replied. “Now, we have to be going.”
I looked around us. The sun was nearing the horizon and started casting rainbow colors across the sky. As beautiful as it was, I had to refocus on the fact that I was standing on the roof of a mansion and was just told I was going somewhere.
“Exactly how are we supposed to go anywhere from here?” I asked.
Aron grinned at me. She stepped to my side and grabbed me hard by the wrist.
“Not all dragons are as big as Prenna,” she laughed wickedly. I didn’t even have time to wonder what she was talking about before a chocolate-brown dragon, less than half Prenna’s size, swooped down at us. It didn’t slow down, nor stop. It simply swooped. Aron caught hold of the dragon’s harness as it passed, yanked along with the flying beast. She easily swung her leg over and got seated while I hung from her hand.
Steadily climbing into the sky, my brain was trying to catch up with what was happening. Then Aron gave one sturdy pull and hoisted me up high enough to swing my leg over the dragon’s back. I instantly fell forward and looked for a strap like the one I’d had on Prenna. There wasn’t one to be found. Aron’s dragon dipped and whipped around like a dart, and I finally just reached forward and wrapped my arms around Aron to avoid being thrown off. While the thrill of the fly-by boarding was wearing down enough for me to breathe normally again, the lack of secure structures to anchor myself to during the ride was keeping my adrenaline pumping. It was then I noticed the buzzing energy again. It had encased me entirely. I closed my eyes and focused, and sure enough, I could feel the dragon’s emotions.
“What is your dragon’s name?” I leaned forward and yelled when I could get the words out.
“Her name is Allie,” Aron hollered back. I sat back and concentrated on Allie. She was so full of energy and was an extremely happy dragon. Her glee surprised me, being that she belonged to Aron, who didn’t strike me as the particularly joyful type. Allie also was feeling very mischievous. I had no idea what a dragon could have to be mischievous about, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out. Right then, she changed directions and shot straight up into the air.
“Allie!” Aron yelled at her. “Level!” Even though Aron was yelling, I could tell she wasn’t angry at her dragon.
Allie didn’t listen to her, anyway. I was praying that she would start, however. We were vertical, and I was only staying on Allie by the grip I had around Aron. The rest of me was steadily floating up off Allie’s back. I closed my eyes once more and decided to try something. Gripping Aron as tight as I could with one arm, I reached the other down and put my hand on Allie’s back. I concentrated my fear of falling and imagined it flowing through my hand and into Allie. I figured if I could feel what the dragon was feeling, she should be able to feel me too, as Prenna had. I wasn’t sure it would matter, but I had to try.
Allie’s muscles tightened beneath my hand, and I instantly felt remorse from her. She leveled herself almost immediately, putting me squarely on her back once again. I used the same technique to make sure she knew how appreciative
I was of her adjustment to my situation. Aron stopped yelling at Allie and glanced back at me.
“What did you do to her?” she snapped.
“Let her know I was falling off,” I yelled back.
Aron whipped her head back around and leaned forward. Allie dove through the air, but not at such an angle that we were in fear of falling off her. The wind flew through my hair, and I could relax and enjoy the ride finally.
Allie was indeed much smaller than Prenna, but she was harder too. Her skin and scales were thicker, and her muscles felt more solid. The scales on the ridge down the center of her back were massive and resembled armored plates more than scales. While her scales didn’t have the glow to them that Prenna’s did, they were so polished-looking that when she moved in certain directions and the sun hit her, the light reflected off her glossy sheen and was nearly blinding.
Just moments later, Allie reversed her wing direction and slowed as we approached a massive structure. I looked all around and saw that we were at least a couple of miles from town already. The structure was a building of some sort, and it looked very old.
It was built in a circle, like a strip mall surrounding a huge courtyard, only beautiful and majestic. Glass strips covered the middle area arching from one side of the building to the other. The closer we got, I saw that they weren’t just glass strips, they were walkways. There was a dragon-circle for landing dragons just off to the side of the building, and less than a minute later, that’s where I found myself. Allie got us safely to the ground, and Aron and I hopped off.
I walked to the beast’s head and reached my hand out a couple of feet in front of me. I didn’t want to just touch her, as I still didn’t know the rules about what was appropriate handling of a dragon, but I wanted to thank her for listening to me. She cocked her head from side-to-side a few times, looking at me with her yellow eyes. Then she slowly lowered the end of her heavily fanged mouth into my hand. She had a beak-like face, similar to Prenna’s, but it was blunter at the end. I laid my hand on her head, just between the nostrils on the end of her face, and patted her. She stared at me for a second and lifted her head away. I dropped my arm and looked around for Aron.