by Simon Archer
19
After the meeting to determine what we were going to do about the missing women, we had all gone our separate ways to get some rest, except for Gale and me. Her first order of business was to get me in to see the Academy dragon. I had nearly forgotten that she told me that the gifted creature could glimpse into the future, which would be amazingly helpful at that time. My excitement was short-lived, however, when she let me know the dragon’s abilities may not be accessible just yet.
“There hasn’t been a Dragonmancer for so long… and it usually takes a bit of time before a Dragonmancer is able to tap into the Academy dragon’s future sight. You are different from those before you, so maybe you’ll have access faster, but I don’t want you to count on it,” Gale explained as she led me down a staircase hidden in the back of the Reflection room.
The stairs wound down for what felt like a quarter mile before they ended on a stone platform about ten-foot-by-ten-foot. There was nothing but blackness in front of us. It was the kind of blackness that pressed in on your face and was heavy. A strange fire-and-ash scent filled my nostrils. It wasn’t unpleasant, just very strong. The place was completely silent except for the sound of Gale and me breathing.
Questions started piling up in my mind, but the silence kept me from asking them. Gale waved her hand in the air, and the entrance from the stairway behind us vanished, leaving us in the pitch black. I froze in place. I wasn’t familiar with my surroundings and was afraid to move until Gale took hold of my hand.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered. “The dark will fade when she realizes we are here.”
“Where is here?” It relieved me to know it was okay to talk.
“We are under the Academy. I know you can’t see it right now, but the top of this cave is retractable. We can open it up so that everybody on the glass walkways can see down into her nest,” she replied.
I stared into the darkness, waiting for something to change.
“Does she have a name, or is it just ‘Academy Dragon’?” I hadn’t thought to ask before.
“Her name is Cadia,” Gale chuckled softly. “I guess I should’ve told you that by now. It just seemed fitting.”
“What makes her ‘the’ Academy dragon?” Gale hadn’t mentioned that either.
“Legend tells it that long ago, when Blenwise was first being settled, they were looking for the most magically potent place in the land to build the Academy. They discovered that all the land was the same in terms of magical potential, but random ‘hot spots’ of magic would appear. These special spots turned out to be wherever Cadia slept for the night. She was young then, so she hadn’t made a nest of her own, but Dragon rock hadn’t been cultivated either. So, the settlers built her a place to nest, and built the academy on top of it.” Gale’s voice echoed around the stone walls as she spoke.
“Can she get out of here?” The place felt more like a dungeon at the moment.
“She can. She’s built her own network of caves under the academy and can come and go as she pleases. Nobody knows how often she uses them, though. Deyla would be the one to see her the most often, but she never tells when she does. Some Dragon Whisperer code or something,” Gale shrugged.
“I could see Deyla being good at secrets, especially when it comes to dragons,” I replied.
“Mmmhmm,” Gale agreed, quietly. That is when a very faint, glowing white light began to emerge from the depths of the cavern in front of me. It grew brighter rapidly, and I got the distinct feeling the source of it was getting closer rapidly.
“Is that…?” I started. Gale squeezed my hand in confirmation. The light glowed brighter until finally, it crested the edge of the cavern.
It was so intense I immediately shielded my eyes and had to blink until I could adjust. The light kept rising higher in the air and soon was over the tops of our heads. That is when I could see that it came from the eyes of a massive figure, their head shadowed behind them. The creature blinked once, and the light dimmed enough that I could put my hand down and take a good look. Another blink, and it was as though the light transferred from her eyes into the air, lighting the entire place up. That’s when I first got a glimpse of how massive and beautiful she was.
Cadia’s eyes faded to a light blue, almost the shade of blue that you see when looking through a thin cloud with a blue sky behind it. Her scales were blue as well, but more of an electric ice blue with silver edges. The long, sweeping horns off the top of her head were silver as well. A dark, navy blue stripe began at the tip of her snout and made its way up her head and disappeared down the backside of her neck. She absolutely sparkled in the light that she somehow had thrown about the room. I looked at Gale, my mouth hanging open in awe.
“Cadia,” Gale started, bowing slightly to the dragon. “I’m presenting Blake to you. He is the next Dragonmancer.” Cadia, who had been looking at Gale, whipped her eyes to me.
“Hello, Cadia,” I said quietly. Gale hadn’t given any instructions on Dragonmancer etiquette, so I was hoping a traditional greeting would do. “It is an honor to meet you.”
“I’ve waited years to meet you, Blake. We have a lot of work to do.”
I took a quick step back. Not only had Cadia spoken to me, but she had also done it with her thoughts. Her words echoed through my mind, instead of through the cave we were standing in.
“Yes, I believe we do. I would appreciate any guidance you can offer,” I replied aloud once I got my mental bearings back.
“Have any interesting visions lately? Or dreams perhaps?” Cadia asked through my thoughts. I could hear her voice but couldn’t remember what it sounded like a moment later, which was rather unsettling.
“I have had one of each,” I replied, extremely curious as to how the dragon would know.
“Pay attention to the things you see, even if your eyes are closed,” Cadia instructed.
“I will,” I replied, meaning it. “Will you be showing me the future?
“When the time is right. Magic is still a draining force for you right now, as you demonstrated at the river today,” she replied to my mind.
“How do I fix that?” I wanted to know the fastest way to get stronger.
“Time and practice is my recommendation to you,” Cadia told me. The answer disappointed me, but at the same time, it boosted my motivation to train even harder.
“I will train to the best of my abilities and beyond,” I assured her.
“I know you will,” she replied. “Now, it is time I meet Victoria. Please take my scale to her. She will be able to find me via scent. Tell her to return the scale when she comes.”
“Right away, uh…” I felt like continuing to refer to her as Cadia was too informal.
“Cadia is just fine,” she informed me before I could formulate a question. “Please tell Gale ‘hello’ and thank her for her loyal service.”
“It will be done, Cadia,” I assured her.
Without another word, Cadia blinked slowly, and the light in the cavern began to return to her eyes. It flowed to her, slowly leaving darkness behind to take its place. At first, everything got brighter because all the light concentrated in her eyes, but then she descended back down into her nest, and Gale and I were left in blackness once more.
The snapping of Gale’s fingers rang through the cavern and the staircase door opened behind us, shedding a tiny ray of light. She let go of my hand, and the two of us left Cadia’s den in silence and headed straight for my room. Gale paused momentarily as I was opening my door. Her eyes were hopeful.
“Cadia wanted me to thank you for your loyal service to her, and to tell you ‘hello,’” I told her, figuring that is what she wanted to know. “Why didn’t you tell me that she could speak, much less speak directly into my thoughts?”
“It’s an experience,” Gale said, smiling wide. “There is no reason for me to dull your experiences by preparing you for them. At least not the good ones.”
“I appreciate you for that,” I told her, grateful that
she hadn’t dulled that particular moment.
Gale turned and headed back down the hallway, while I headed to bed. I fully planned to fulfill my promise to Cadia, and myself, to train harder than any Dragonmancer ever has. As I laid my head on my pillow a few minutes later, I remembered what she said about dreams and visions, and wondered whether I would be having another one that night.
20
Not only was the sleep I got dreamless, but a pounding on the door also interrupted it abruptly. It was so loud, it had me out of bed and across the room in a matter of seconds. As I threw the door open and stepped back, Deyla’s worry-twisted face met me.
“I need your help right away,” she blurted out. “A minor got injured last night.”
“A minor? Like, a child?” My mind was still firing up.
“No, a young dragon,” Deyla spat out. “You have to help her!”
“How am I able to help?” I was already getting dressed as I tried to discern what she was talking about.
“Every Dragonmancer in history had some ability to heal. It may not be much, but anything will help right now,” she replied.
“I’ve never tried to heal anything,” I replied, my own panic starting to set in.
“I know,” Deyla said as she rushed into the room and held out a torn leaf to me. “I brought this for you to practice.”
“You want me to practice on a leaf?” It seemed a bit elementary to go from a leaf to a living being.
“It’s what we’ve got to work with, for now, so yes,” she replied.
“I’ll give it a shot,” I said as I finished tying the laces on my boots. I took the leaf from her and then focused on it.
Most of my powers seemed to work by using my mind to induce them to, so I figured I’d try that first. I took a long, focused look at the two leaf pieces, memorizing the shapes, color, and even the vein structure that showed. I closed my hand over them and closed my eyes. I imagined the leaf whole again, and the tear gone without leaving so much as a scar. I made sure I could see it as clear as if I was holding the leaf in front of my face. When the image was clear and solid in my mind, I opened my eyes and my hands. Deyla rushed to see if I was successful, and to my surprise, I was.
“You did it!” she cried out. “Now, let’s go!”
I didn’t even have time to examine the leaf fully before her hand was on mine, and she was pulling me out the door. We ran down the hall and made the twists and turns leading to the front entrance. At the doorway, I remembered that I had to get Victoria from the Academy lair. Rushing out, I tried to go left around the building, but Deyla pulled me to the right.
“I have to get Victoria,” I told her, slightly irritated.
“I already got her for you, and I must warn you, she’s very upset,” Deyla said. Blood pounded in my ears as worry crept into my mind.
“Why is she upset?” I yelled to Deyla, who was several paces ahead of me.
“The injured minor is her daughter,” she hollered back over her shoulder. I instantly picked up speed as I ran to the dragon circle.
When I reached Victoria, her eyes pleaded with me for help. As soon as I mounted her back, we connected, and I felt her terror. She was nearly in a panic, and for a brief moment, I wasn’t confident that anyone should ride her at the time. After she shot into the air, though, I felt her strength and resolve to get me to her daughter as quickly and safely as possible.
I focused on calming myself so as to not worry her further as we flew faster than I ever had. The moment we reached Dragon rock, she dive-bombed toward the landing area. The ground hurtling towards my face should’ve scared me, but I trusted her and actually got a thrill out of it. She pulled up, leveled out, flapped her wings backward to brake, and brought us down safely. She extended her wing, and I got off her back as quickly as I could. Deyla, who was once again riding Prenna, was only a few seconds behind me. Even those few quick seconds caused Victoria more anxiety.
When Deyla was finally on the ground, we ran towards the rock croppings where I’d first selected Victoria as my own, and both Victoria and Prenna followed.
I gasped as I crested the hill. A small, lavender-colored dragon was lying in the middle of the largest rock, a protective circle of adult dragons surrounding her. She was writhing in pain, and those around her had tears running down their faces. It had never occurred to me that a dragon could cry.
Deyla ran ahead of me, and I followed the path she made through the dragons until we reached the injured baby.
“What is her name?” I asked as I moved towards the dragon’s face.
“She doesn’t have one yet. Dragons don’t receive names until we chose them or are they are five years into adulthood. Feel free to name her if you think it will help,” she replied.
I nodded and knelt beside the young dragon’s head, and the pain in her eyes hurt me. I didn’t know how old she was, but she still had child-like agony in her gaze. Slowly, I reached out, placed my hand on her forehead, and closed my eyes.
“I’m going to look at you, so I know what hurts and what I need to heal,” I whispered to her. “And I’m going to call you Brave.”
A slow, meek energy began to flow from her head to my hand, and I had to concentrate not to pull away as pain and anxiety filled it. I let the energy flow through me, hoping to take some of her fear away. Finally, I opened my eyes and looked into hers. She was slightly less frantic and slowed her wriggling.
Standing, I closed my eyes again and began to make my way around her body. She couldn’t have been more than twelve feet long, including her tail. I rubbed my hand across her as I walked, feeling my way. Her wings were both outstretched, and rounding the first one, I didn’t feel anything unusual. It was a mental struggle to remain calm and control my worry for her. When I got to her other wing and was sliding my hand across the top of it, a massive pain shot through me, knocking me down and breaking my connection with her. My eyes flew open, and I instantly saw that I had touched a part of her wing angled in an unnatural direction.
Getting to my feet, I decided to continue examining her before attempting to heal the break, on the off chance that she had more serious injuries needed tending to first. I made it around the rest of her body, making sure to slide my hand as far under her as I could get in case she had internal injuries. Not detecting any, I returned to her head. Placing my hand on her forehead again, I did my best to let her feel me be calm.
“I want to heal your wing, Brave,” I told her quietly. “It may hurt, and I know you are already in so much pain, but I need you to stay as still as you can.”
I felt her mood lift for just a moment when I mentioned healing her, and it excited me. Her pain quickly flooded back, but I had what I needed. I wouldn’t be able to help her if she tried to flap her wing to get away from any pain I may cause, but now I knew she would do her best to remain still.
I looked around for Deyla and realized that Dragon rock had gone completely silent. There wasn’t even the sound of the dragons breathing. I spotted Deyla a few yards away, rubbing Victoria’s leg in an effort to calm her. When I caught her eye, she rushed to my side.
“Why can’t I hear them breathe?” I asked, a growing concern welling up.
“Don’t worry about them. They are breathing, and they know a bit about magic. It takes concentration, and right now, every dragon on this rock would do anything to have little Brave healed, even if that means taking shallow, nearly inaudible breaths. A broken wing usually means death to a dragon. They simply don’t heal, will eventually rip through the skin and get infected.” She stared up at me with questioning eyes, and I could tell she didn’t want to pressure me while at the same time she needed to know if I could heal Brave.
“Concentration will be key in this case too. I’m going to give this everything I’ve got. Whatever you do, don’t break my focus for any reason, understand?” I stared at her, dead serious.
“No one will disturbed you,” she assured me, and then returned to Victoria.
; I went to Brave’s healthy wing and stared at it. I locked every detail about it in my mind, clear down to the pattern of her scales. Closing my eyes and using my hands to direct me, I made my way around to her broken wing, all the while holding onto the image I’d just created. I very gently slid my hand to where her pain was the worst, and I could feel the break. Laying my hands on each side of the break, I shut every one of my senses off except what I could feel through my hands. It was as if I was standing in a dark cave deep beneath the ground where nothing living had ever been except Brave and me.
Once I was completely free of possible distractions, I turned one hundred percent of my focus to the image in my mind of Brave’s healthy wing. I traced it with my mind’s sight, taking in every detail. Then I reversed the image to look as though it belonged on the other side of her body. After the reverse image was stable and I once again could see every detail, a new kind of energy began to flow through my hands. That time it was coming from me and flowing into Brave. It was warm and cold at the same time, like a shady spot under a huge tree shading me from the sun on a hot day, and it radiated from my entire body. I hadn’t felt it when I’d fixed the leaf.
The flow from me to Brave was slow at first, but quickly began to pick up speed. The energy was developing from every fiber of my being and seemed to be endless in supply as I concentrated harder than I ever had. I saw her bone healed, and I saw her pain disappear in my mind.
I don’t know how long I was in the trance-like state while doing everything possible to heal her before the energy began to lessen. It slowly decreased until, finally, it stopped flowing out of me altogether. Everything in my surroundings became noticeable again, like I’d just crawled out of our private cave again. I opened my eyes, hopeful and a little scared. Then a wave of confidence and joy spread over me as I saw Brave’s wing was back to normal beneath my hands.