Tomes Apprentice

by Honor Raconteur

  Mei Li turned her head to see what he meant and grimaced. The sky was dark grey and rolling, the clouds promising snow—a great deal of it. “Can you outfly it?”

  “We’ll see, won’t we?” Hui grimly responded. “I might have to set down, though. I can’t afford to crash land, especially not with you as a passenger.”

  “I’d appreciate it,” she returned mildly.

  He let out a rolling, rough-sounding chuckle, and his tail wriggled as he perched on the edge of the sheer cliff. “You ready?”

  “Ready.”

  With a whoop, he threw himself off, his wings catching a gust of air that pulled them further up into the sky. Mei Li’s stomach bottomed out at the abruptness of it and she laughed at the thrill. This flying thing was quite fun, more than she’d imagined.

  Hui turned them toward the south, taking the most direct route overland toward Dragon’s Peak. Mei Li knew her geography well enough to know where he was going without asking. Which was just as well—she had no faith she could make herself heard. The wind was strong—blisteringly so—and it rushed over her ears like a waterfall. It would be impossible to converse during the flight. Long-go had been designed by the dragons to be heard in situations like this—it was a naturally very loud language—and Mei Li now understood why. It wouldn’t be possible to talk and be heard in any other language, with their softer tones and nuances.

  They flew, and flew, the Spine Ridge Mountains passing below them in minutes. It seemed entirely unfair the barrier keeping her in that loathsome place was so easily surmountable to Hui. In a blink, the mountains were gone, leaving nothing more than vast stretches of primeval forest, with the occasional village and farmland cropping up. It was a beautiful sight, not one many humans were able to experience. Mei Li drank it in, her dark eyes wide with wonder.

  After a while, the cold and wind made her eyes sting, and she had to close them. She buried her head further into her nest of furs against Hui’s chest and spent some time thinking instead.

  The situation was not as she had imagined it. When she had been forced to evacuate Overlook, it had been pandemonium. Hearing that some of their books and records were lost wasn’t much of a surprise to her, although it worried Mei Li dreadfully. There were any number of ancient artifacts, magical pathways, and divine rituals that really should not be messed with. Losing the knowledge of how to maneuver around all of that was…detrimental, to say the least. The Tomes didn’t just store knowledge; they guided mages and kings on how to combat ancient magical problems, ancient evils. How to re-seal, defeat, or counter magical disasters as they arose. Without either Tomes present to help guide them, had the mages of the world just been winging it?

  Dreadful thought.

  How was she to manage without those missing records? As far as she was aware, there was no second copy in existence. For that matter, which books were lost?

  She’d assumed Abe, at least, would be taking care of all that while searching for her. After all, she was just an apprentice. Losing her was one thing, but Abe? Hearing both of them had been lost struck dread in her heart. What was the state of things now, with the main caretakers gone? Mei Li couldn’t imagine it was anything good. If the world wasn’t on the verge of caterwauling into chaos, she’d be quite surprised.

  The one upside to this whole situation was that she was being taken directly to the Master of All Dragons. Master Shunlei was not a dragon she knew personally—more by reputation than anything, although Abe had many a story to tell of him. The dragon was known for being wickedly intelligent, reserved, and a force to be reckoned with. He was refined enough to put kings to shame, they said. He was also the guardian of order in the world, and always had been. Mei Li had no doubt when she got to him, he would help her in whatever ways she needed. Better yet, he might assign her a dragon so she could fly wherever she needed to and avoid the slower, more conventional methods of travel.

  Well, really, she’d be lucky to not have a permanent squad of guards after this. Two years of being missing…she couldn’t imagine any of the leaders of this world taking that well.

  She pressed up against Hui’s chest a little further, seeking his warmth. Dragons were always incredibly warm. No surprise, considering they could generate fire within their bellies. She soaked it all in and tried to think. If no one had been handling matters, then what would be the most pressing problem? What would she need to tackle first? Abe had mentioned things over the years to her. She didn’t know of everything, but at the very least, she could tackle what she did know. And read the tomes she hadn’t yet while traveling to and from, catch up as she went. It would mean a great deal of traveling and not much sleep in her near future.

  After two years of stagnating, that sounded rather nice, actually. Mei Li’s brain felt rotten and dusty from the lack of use.

  Somewhere around noon, her stomach growled, but Mei Li strove to ignore it. She’d packed some of the deer from last night and a flask of water, but she had no way of relieving herself during the trip. She’d rather starve and be thirsty than embarrass both her and Hui by demanding to stop somewhere. The hunger pangs eventually passed, although her thirst did not. Oh well. She’d been in rougher situations than cold and thirsty.

  The sun was high in the sky but no warmer at this point, and it sank behind the clouds as quickly as it had come. The snowstorm was upon them. Hui, as fast as he flew, had not been able to keep ahead of it. Mei Li silently breathed the vilest curses she knew before drawing in a heavy breath of cold air and belting out in Long-go, “Alright to fly?”

  The words felt like they were snatched away by the wind, but Hui apparently heard her just fine. He didn’t turn his head but he answered clearly, the words accompanied by a deep-throated thrum: “For now. If we can stay ahead of the leading clouds, I think we’ll be alright.”

  They kept flying. Mei Li kept her head out now, watching the clouds around them warily. The air felt moister and cooler as they passed through the dark clouds. Any other time she’d have reveled in the experience. Now it just caused her throat to tighten with anxiety. Would they be forced to set down? Where, though? They were hours away from Dragon’s Peak and the Barrens stretched out underneath them. It was all desert land and rocks, nothing hospitable.

  Dragon’s Peak bordered the sea, allowing the dragons to feed on fish and ocean mammals. Anything on land was all too small to even be an appetizer, as the back side of the mountain was desert. They’d initially called the place home because of politics and such, although the dragons seemed to like living in high places. Easier to gain altitude, she supposed. Right now, though, it meant there was no help to be had for the last few hours of the flight until they actually reached their destination.

  Hui’s luck didn’t hold. The storm overtook him entirely, growing in strength, rumbling around them. He dropped lower, below the cloud line, not willing to be caught in the storm clouds themselves. If she hadn’t been with him, Mei Li was sure he’d have gone above instead, stayed clear of the storm altogether. But she couldn’t breathe in such high altitudes. It put them in a potentially hazardous situation. Maybe they should try setting down? Although the question of where still stood unanswered.

  A strong gust of wind snagged them, catching Hui unprepared. It turned them sideways and he flapped hard to compensate. He couldn’t roll with her strapped to him—she’d fall out. It cost him; she could see the strain in his neck as he fought to stay stable in the flight. Hui abruptly hissed in pain, his body wobbling. Mei Li latched on to the straps, heart leaping into her throat at the instability. He thrummed low now, a painful groan in his throat she could decipher but not respond to. A human’s throat couldn’t duplicate or give the comforting thrum Hui needed.

  Straining again to be heard over the storm whipping around them, Mei Li called, “How bad?”

  “Sprained my right wing,” he answered with clearly gritted teeth.

  That was definitely not good. “Down?”

  “Can�
��t. No place to set here. And we’re so close—maybe an hour out.”

  He’d made good time, then. Still, an hour with a sprained wing? She couldn’t see how they’d make it. The storm was becoming more ferocious. He would constantly be battling ferocious wind currents for the next hour. Her eyes sought out the marks of Dragon’s Peak on the horizon, but the snow was too thick for her to see anything past Hui’s nose. Were they really an hour out? Or was that Hui’s wishful thinking?

  “I’m going to try calling for help,” Hui announced a few minutes later. The strain was obvious not only in his voice but in his body. “An Elder might be able to fly us both in. A Blue or a Purple, maybe.”

  It was worth a try. The older dragons were larger, capable of aiding a younger dragon’s flight. Dragons could communicate across huge differences. Even with the storm’s interference, he might be heard at this range. Still, being this close to him meant it would be an assault on her ears. Mei Li ducked into the furs and put fingers into both ears in preparation.

  “Here!” Hui bellowed, and it sounded like a thunderclap near her eardrums. “Dragon in trouble! Here!”

  After an agonizing moment of silence, a faint reply came from dead ahead. “Coming.”

  Hui let out a breath that sounded like a sob. “Thank all sand and stars. Going to shout again, Mei Li.”

  “Go,” she encouraged, clamping her ears shut again.

  “Dragon has human passenger.”

  Again a pause, and this time it had the air of some quick communication and conferring before another, deeper voice responded, “Two coming.”

  Mei Li peeked out over the furs and watched raptly. It felt like a small eternity but she could see two dragons in flight even through the swirling snowflakes. One of them was a deep purple, a royal color. Hui’s guess of an Elder coming to the rescue was dead on, then. The other dragon was harder to see, and after a startled blink, she understood why. He was ebony in color, deeper than the inky depths of a starless sky, and against the dark clouds of the storm he was barely more than a shadow.

  A black dragon.

  If she’d had the breath, she would have whistled. Black dragons were few and far between. It took three thousand years for a dragon to attain the age necessary to become black, for one thing, and few lived that long. Mostly because young dragons did incredibly stupid things and got themselves killed before they could survive the red stage. But a black dragon that dark? He or she must be one of the oldest. Well. Mei Li suddenly felt rather lucky to be rescued by two Elders.

  In a move too smooth to have not been practiced, the dragons came in and turned sharply, settling above and below them. The black dragon went underneath, and Hui settled back claws on his back in a tentative hold, trying not to puncture hide. In comparison to the much larger black, Hui was nearly dwarfed, like a speckled pup next to a full-grown dog.

  The purple dragon was not quite as large, but still respectable in size—an obvious thing as the dragon came in along the top, her or his claws latching around Hui’s midriff to share the load. In tandem, both Elders’ wings beat, and they kept Hui aloft between them. Hui stopped flapping entirely with a thrum of relief and pain, glad to not use his sprained wing.

  They did not say a word on the way in. There was no breath to be spared, and the storm wouldn’t allow it without shouting. Mei Li was desperately glad. Her aching ears couldn’t take any more shouting. They crossed the distance to Dragon’s Peak in semi-obscurity. Mei Li barely saw more than the outlines of the top of the mountain, and the huge plateau ahead of them. Bright fires burned in braziers, meant to light their way home. She caught the impression of buildings carved into the bedrock, but not much else.

  They didn’t try to separate on the way in, just flew, slowing their approach to a glide over the smooth rock. The black dragon settled with a soft thump, Hui’s body dipping down to rest against him more firmly. The purple dragon peeled off, flapping three times to gain some distance so she wouldn’t knock anyone about, before settling lightly to the ground. Hui carefully climbed down, wincing as he did so, his front arm cradling Mei Li to keep her from knocking about. His injured wing he kept out, it apparently being too painful to fold in.

  “Thank you, both of you, for the help,” Hui said as he climbed down. “I didn’t expect it.”

  “Yes, well, fortunately for you, I was on duty tonight and I was able to snag him quickly,” the purple dragon chided with a distinctly maternal tone. “Foolish child. Don’t fly like that with a wing so hurt.”

  “No choice,” Hui answered, although his tone was respectful. “No place to land with her strapped to my chest.”

  “Yes, I suppose so. Good of you to call for help. The young ones do not always have that sense.”

  “I couldn’t take chances with such a precious passenger,” Hui answered. He turned his head toward his chest and looked at Mei Li with concern in his golden eyes. “You alright?”

  “I’m fine,” Mei Li assured him. She gripped the strap as he carefully lowered her to the ground and managed to untangle herself without tripping or faceplanting in the process. Something of a miracle, that, as her right leg was definitely asleep. As she caught her balance, she gave both dragons a deep and respectful bow. “Thank you, Elders, for the aid. We weren’t sure if we’d make it.”

  “A human who knows Long-go!” Purple said in delight. “There’s a rare thing. I am Rone the Purple. You are welcome in Dragon’s Peak, young human. The Elder next to you is Shunlei the Black.”

  Shunlei the Black immediately shifted from dragon form to human. The transformation normally took a full minute, but he crossed between forms in the blink of an eye, too quick to track. He wore the long, flowing clothes popular among dragons, of a deep midnight blue, suited to his compact frame. They made him seem even more intimidating than he already was. Or perhaps she found him intimidating because she knew who he was?

  Mei Li just about swallowed her tongue. The Master of All Dragons himself?! She’d known he had to be important—the color alone told her that—but…but…oh wow. Breathe lungs, breathe. “Well met, Elders. I am Mei Li, Abe of Tomes’ apprentice.”

  His mouth was parted slightly like one spellbound, his light blue eyes locked on her. It took him a moment to remember to speak, and then he carefully approached, taking her hand with one of his.

  “Mei Li, I am joyous to see you well.”

  She saw that reflected clearly in his expression. He seemed intensely, personally glad to have her within arm’s reach and she wondered at it. Was the situation that bad, that he was so invested in her well-being? Somehow that didn’t feel right to her.

  His hold on her hand was gentle, and so very warm, that she let him hold onto her longer than was proper. Her shivering was bad enough she barely kept her voice steady. “Thank you, Elder Shunlei. I’m very glad to be with all of you too. Hui found me yesterday and wasted no time in bringing me straight to you. I would have been lost still without him.”

  “A fact he shall be rewarded for. Hui, you have done well.”

  Hui preened visibly. “Thank you, Elder.”

  “Rone,” Shunlei addressed the other dragon, “if you’ll see to Hui? Mei Li is chilled to the bone. I’ll bring her to my house.”

  Rone and Hui both visibly started. For that matter, Mei Li was surprised. She hadn’t expected Shunlei to extend his hospitality to her personally. She expected his aid, yes, but that was for the world’s benefit. And why was he chaffing her hands together like that? He did so absently, as if he’d done it a hundred times before. Was he so accustomed to looking after fledglings that she was being given the same treatment? Shivers racked Mei Li, her bones rattling in her skin, so she didn’t mind the warmth he shared. She just found their position a little odd.

  “I, uh, certainly,” Rone managed after a moment. Her wide golden eyes were fixated on Shunlei as if she had no idea what he was doing. So she found the action unusual, too?

  He didn’t wait to s
ee if anyone wanted to object to this. Shunlei doffed his own ankle-length outer robe and wrapped it around her shoulders. They were of a similar enough height that it didn’t drag more than a few inches on the ground. And wasn’t that bizarre in its own right? Mei Li had expected a giant figure of a man, not compact body with average height. Did dragons even have control over their human shape, or was it dictated by nature? She’d have to find a way to discreetly ask.

  The robe was indeed warm, especially with its fur-lined interior, and she huddled into it as he escorted her away from the landing area. His hand rested at the small of her back and he stayed close, acting as a windbreaker. Mei Li found such thoughtfulness charming. He was indeed the gentleman his reputation made him out to be.

  And Dragon’s Peak was fascinating. Mei Li hadn’t seen it before and she took a good look around, trying to see between the snow. The different structures had been carved directly into the bedrock of the mountain, with facades of doors and awnings that jutted out from the bare rock. Some had signs, banner flags that flapped in the breeze, designating them as a business. Others had the name of the owner. It was brightly colored with the different banners, doors, and roofs, all jumbled together. This place had not been planned. It had just grown. Mei Li found it initially confusing and just knew she’d be lost for a while trying to figure this place out.

  “We’ve been looking for you desperately, Mei Li,” Shunlei informed her as they took a small flight of stairs up and toward the first carved pathways in the mountainside. “We’re still searching for your master. We’ve no idea where he went during the evacuation. I’m…very blessed you were at least found.”

  She looked up at that face, beautiful in its own way with its angles and sharp nose ridge. He looked like a carved statue, one not quite finished—the sculptor forgetting to smooth away the sharpest angles. Even the pearl in the center of his forehead looked sharp, despite its oval shape. It was his manner that softened him, made him approachable instead of appearing cold and aloof. Dragons didn’t age in appearance as humans did—they reached maturity and stayed in that zone for a very long time before aging—but still he looked somewhere in his thirties. If not for his ebony skin, silently declaring him to be well over three thousand years old, she would assume him to be that young.