Ascension
Dragon Rider Academy
Episode 1
Michael James Ploof
Table of Contents
World Map
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
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World Map
Chapter 1
Min Varresh stood before the forge, staring into the glowing inferno, her mind far away. She pulled a rod out of the fire and pounded the metal absently. There were still one hundred nails to be made, and the tedium of the process often left her daydreaming of adventure. Min hated making nails, but she rather enjoyed making swords, daggers, and more than anything else, intricate armor. But in Riverrun people rarely asked for such things. It was usually nails, horseshoes, nobs, gates, and other less than exciting objects.
Years of pounding metal had made her strong, and given that she was a tall young woman who kept her hair short and out of the way, she was often mistaken for a boy by strangers. Her propensity for wearing trousers and men’s shirts didn’t help either, but it was more practical for the daughter of a blacksmith than dresses.
Being called a boy wasn’t an insult to Min. On the contrary, she liked the respect it showed and put her on equal footing with men who would otherwise ogle her towering frame. She saw how men stared at other women, and she considered it a blessing she hadn’t developed the way they had. A month short of seventeen, she was sure she had done growing and was glad of it.
“Good afternoon, Father,” she said when he walked into the room.
He offered her a smile that made his hound-dog eyes lose some of their quiet sorrow for a moment, then the scowl returned, and he stroked his beard. He tied his apron and paced.
Her mother used to call him Worry Bear, because he more often than not wore a concerned expression on his bearded face, and his stature was like that of the furry animal.
The memory of her mother made Min anxious, and she focused instead on the way her father wrung his hands as he paced.
“Something on your mind?” she asked.
“What?” He glanced at her, realized he’d been fidgeting, and wiped his hands on his apron. “Yes, well, there’s always something on my mind, Min.”
“I’ve almost got the nails done. This makes a thousand for the week. Tell me we haven’t gotten another order of nails.” She dunked the glowing rod into the water bucket, and it hissed and bubbled. “If I never pound out another bloody nail, it will be too soon.”
“Actually, we’ve received an order for a dragon lance.” He grinned in anticipation of her reaction.
“A dragon lance?” she whispered, searching his face for a sign he was jesting.
“It seems the new mayor finds the town’s defenses lacking, and he has ordered a dozen. Can’t imagine why. There hasn’t been a report of a wild dragon or wyvern in these parts for the better part of a decade.” He laughed. “Who would wield the damned thing anyway?”
“I could,” she said, glancing at the one that hung on the wall behind her father. It was a wondrous piece of work, the shaft made from fired hardwood and the iron tip as sharp as a razor. The eight foot long lance was a gift given to him by the Lord of Riverrun over a decade ago when he had ordered three dozen to be made. As a reward for his fine work, Min’s father had been allowed to keep one.
He stabbed the coals with a thin iron rod, letting it heat up. “I suppose that’s true, with or without your power.”
They worked in silence for a time, but he kept looking at her as if something more was on his mind.
“Min, uh….” He cleared his throat and smiled fleetingly. “Your friend, Vynessa… has she decided who she will marry? I was given to understand both the Higgins lad and Troy Barren have asked for her hand.”
“I believe she fancies Troy,” said Min, watching him closely.
He nodded and turned his iron on the anvil. He pounded it until the glow died away and shoved it back into the forge. “And you. Is there anyone you fancy?”
There it is. “Not this again.”
He shrugged. “You’re a beautiful young woman. These things need to be addressed.”
“Has someone asked you for my hand?”
“Since you ask, yes, someone has.”
“Who?”
“Johann Kellring. I ran into him at the market.”
“Johann?” Min felt her face flush and tried to hide her ire by pounding iron.
Her father was taken aback. “What in the world is wrong with him? He’s been apprenticing with his father for years. Soon he will take over as head butcher. The family has land, livestock, and a number of properties.”
“Johann is my friend.” She chuckled mirthlessly. “I should say he was. I can’t believe he asked for my hand. What a buffoon.”
“You confuse me to no end.” He shook his head with baffled disappointment.
“I don’t want to marry Johann.”
“Then who do you want to marry?”
“No one.”
“You wish to become an old maid? Never have a family? Never know the joys of childrearing.”
“I didn’t say that. I just don’t want to marry right now.”
“Then when? You are entering into your prime childbearing years.”
“What am I then, nothing more than a sow ready to birth a piglet?”
“Of course not. You’re being overdramatic.”
Min pounded metal with her heavy hammer, wishing he would drop the subject, but he waited with an expectant look. When the glow of metal told her it was time to put it back in the forge, she did it harder than necessary, and the metal struck stone.
“When I meet the right man, I’ll know it. Besides, I’m a blacksmith, soon to be a master, not some useless lass with nothing to offer the world but bouncing curls and child-rearing hips.”
“A female master blacksmith?” he said, looking perplexed.
“And why not? I’ve been studying under you since I was big enough to swing a hammer.” Min regarded him hesitantly. “You do intend to leave me the business, don’t you?”
He looked away guiltily.
“Father?”
He sighed. “I’m taking on a new apprentice, but you will own the business in due time, yes.”
“What?”
He did not repeat himself.
Tears of anger formed on her eyelids, but she swallowed the emotion like a bitter pill. She hadn’t cried since her mother passed away ten years ago, and she wasn’t about to start now. “You won’t let me join the Unbound Academy or take over when you are gone,” she said evenly. “Having children… is that all you think I’m good for?”
“Of course not.”
“You could have fooled me.” She dunked red hot iron into the bucket, and it seethed like her inner rage.
“Min, you’re special. You—”
“I’m an Unbound,” she clarified.
He winced at the word, like he always did, and glanced nervously around the shop as if someone might be listening.
“Only men join the academy. We’ve been over this a thousand times. Only men are born Unbound. Why you are cursed with the power, the gods only know.”
“Cursed?” That hurt. If she had been born male, her father would have said she was blessed to have the power.
“Yes, cursed,” he said with an anger he rarely showed. “The Unbound are assassins. Do you want to kill? Do you want to spend your short life in hardship? Because that’s
what your life would be—short. The Unbound live dangerously. It is no life for a woman, and I will not hand over my only child to be cannon fodder for that bastard, King Garrand!”
“They say the power of the Unbound comes from the gods,” she said. “Why would they bestow such power upon me if I wasn’t meant to use it?”
He slammed his hammer against the anvil, making her jump. He never acted in such a way, and it scared her.
“That’s enough!” he bellowed. His face twisted from anguish to anger. “You will find a man you can tolerate. You will marry, have children, and enjoy a long, bountiful, wonderfully ordinary life.”
“I don’t want an ordinary life.”
He pursed his lips tightly, as if trying to hold back biting words. She watched him through eyes shimmering with tears, and when he noticed, he deflated as if all the air had been let out of him. His expression softened, and the tired hound dog emerged once again. “Think of your mother, Min. What would she want you to do?”
The light of the fire shattered in her tears and refracted like shards of a broken mirror. She wiped her eyes angrily and tossed the hammer on the stone floor.
“I don’t know what she would want me to do, because she’s dead. But I know she’d want me to be happy.”
Her father reached for her when she turned away, but she avoided his big hand and hurried out the door. “Minerva!”
She walked out of the shop into the bright, noonday sun. Riverrun was bustling with activity, and it was easy for her to get lost in the swell of people moving about the streets. It was a Moonday at the height of the fishing season, and the markets were drawing people from miles around.
She strolled toward the church, the largest structure in town and the only one made completely of stone. A quick look around told her that no one was watching, so she slipped into the cemetery in back. There were no people here, and she discreetly used her power to get to the roof.
She released a quick burst, repelling the gravitational force keeping her grounded, and fell upward toward one of the small towers. She caught the lip and pulled herself up onto a curved ledge, then ran along the roof edge before bursting again and leaping to the upper balcony. One last release, and she was standing on the slanted roof of the tallest tower, holding on to the iron rod that protruded at the apex.
She breathed hard from the excursion. Using her power was not only physically challenging but mentally taxing as well. Bursting took its toll on mind and body like everything else, but she had been practicing in secret for many years. Getting to the top of the tower hadn’t been any harder than if she had climbed, but it was still tiresome.
The townspeople below went about their day without noticing her, which wasn’t a new occurrence.
“What would mother want?” she said aloud and scoffed. “She would want me to fulfill my destiny as an Unbound.” She looked at the sky, hoping the gods would notice her so high atop the tower. “Why have you given me this power? Is anyone listening? Is there even anyone to hear?”
The idea that the dead were dead and gods were fables made her shiver, and she shrunk from the thought.
She turned her attention to the little people moving about like cattle beneath her, and for a fleeting moment she wished she was one of them—a normal person with a clear purpose. She had no desire to be a woman, not in the way society expected her to, but neither did she wish to be a man. All she wanted was to be herself, whoever that was.
She was the only female Unbound in the world as far as she knew. Like the revered men with the power, she could repel force directed at her with but a thought and her force of will. The first time it happened, it had likely saved her from becoming paralyzed. She had always been a climber, and two years ago she’d been ascending the tall oaks with Vynessa when she lost her footing and fell from a branch thirty feet in the air. Like anyone who finds themselves likely falling to their death, Min had cried out mentally, “No, no, no!” and to her surprise, she’d slowed during the descent and lightly hit the ground, suffering nary a scratch.
From that day forth, she had devoured everything she could find on the Unbound: their history, supposed powers, and even their technique. She’d practiced controlling her bursts and within weeks was able to float up to the branch she had fallen from. She then snuck one of the swords out of the shop, and with Vynessa’s help, learned how to burst against physical attacks.
She thought she was as good as her male counterparts, and she longed to join the Unbound Academy.
But it seemed life had other plans for her.
Thick white clouds were creeping in from the ocean to the west. To the east the crescent moon was setting over the cornfields. A hawk flew north to south, and she followed its progress, envying its freedom.
“Aerria, goddess of wind, I beg you, give me a chance to fly with the Riders, the Unbound Legion of Thrine. Give me but one opportunity, and I will make you proud. I will fight in your name. I will defend those who cannot defend themselves.”
She thought of her mother, who had been killed in a Seadryk raid so long ago. The village had recovered from the attack, but Min’s heart never did. She still remembered her mother’s cries as the Seadryk raiders tore Min from her arms.
She touched her stomach, where the red-faced man had cut her. It was only a small cut in the shape of an upside-down V, but it made her feel deformed. At night it burned and itched, and more than once she had scratched her stomach raw, trying to be rid of it.
But it would not go away until she killed the red-faced man, the son of the Seadryk chieftain, Mazer Vheck.
Chapter 2
Min watched from the top of the tower as the sun set on the west side of the bay. Clouds had lingered there all day, and with the sun below them, they burst with vibrant color. The beauty of it made her heart ache. She wondered what the future held in store for her and sighed unhappily when she imagined marrying and settling down to a life of mediocrity. There was so much world out there to explore, and she had only seen her small corner of it.
She stayed up there all day, watching the bustling village like she had so many times before. She enjoying seeing people go about their day from on high. Their sense of purpose put her at ease, and she fell into a kind of meditative trance.
The day drew on. Wagons and horses moved through town carrying farmers and their families, who’d come to sell their wares; children ran wild, playing tag as their mothers gossiped and inspected dwarven jewelry and furs, and marveled at the elven creations for sale that came from the far northeast.
The village was a busy hub for trade, being that it was nestled in the Azura Isles. Dwarves came down the river from the distant Duunin Mountains to the north to trade their jewelry, weapons, armor, furs, and of course, their legendary mead. The Jadarri Elves of the Jade Forest came to sell energy crystals, healing balms and tinctures, and their knowledge. Humans came from upriver as well, boats arriving daily, as they sought to buy and trade fish, lobster, crab, and other bounties from the sea.
All this Min took in with wonderment. She dreamed of traveling to the dwarven and elven lands, of seeing the Bai Islands in the south and the exotic Azzarra Island, which was home to the beautiful black-haired and suspicious-eyed Azzarrians. But she would never have a chance to see anything outside her village if she married.
As the orange and red glow in the west was replaced by delicate shades of purple and blue, she thought of the village soothsayer and wondered. Her father had told her to steer clear of the woman, for she had foretold Min’s mother’s death. But curiosity and a need for answers overpowered her father’s warnings. She leaped from the top of the church with renewed purpose, falling through the air, cloak flapping in the wind.
She sailed toward the ground, equal parts exhilarated and terrified, even after all this time of using her power. Scant moments before smashing into the earth, she Burst and glided the last few feet to the cemetery grass, landing lightly next to an ornate gravestone. Min looked left and right to see if anyone h
ad witnessed the feat, but the place was still devoid of visitors. Most of the townspeople would be returning home in advance of darkness.
Suddenly a woman kneeling at a grave stood, and Min caught her breath. Had she seen? But no, the woman did not realize Min was there. Her little girl had seen her, though. She tugged on her mother’s dress and pointed at Min.
Min winked.
The girl stopped tugging and smiled.
Min moved on.
The bustling marketplace was winding down, but the taverns and pubs had just begun to come alive. Music and merriment spilled from the establishments. Inside sailors and traders gathered, laughing and talking about the wider world. Women leaned against the balconies of brothels, offering their wares, and men were more than happy to indulge. Min regarded these women with a mix of repulsion and respect. She was repelled that they sold their bodies to such rough and dirty sailors, but she respected the power they had over men, which was a skill Min didn’t understand. She could never fill out a blouse the way these women did, and she considered herself the luckier for it.
The soothsayer, a woman of indeterminate age named Grimulda, lived at the edge of town, where the wattle and daub buildings gave way to shacks and fields of corn and wheat. Her place was a ramshackle abode made of twigs and mud woven together and covered with a mishmash of old tattered sheets and abandoned sails. The property was behind a large brothel and surrounded by a rickety twig fence in desperate need of repair.
Min stopped by the open gate. A gentle wind blew in from the coast, and she heard a soothing chorus of chimes made of metal, bone, and wood.
“Min Varresh?” said a throaty, faintly female voice. “Min Varresh?
“I’m here,” she whispered as she noticed the hunched form in the window beside the open door.
“You have come for answers, but you will find none out there at my gate,” said the woman. “Come in.”
She hesitated, her father’s warnings echoing in her head. He’d made it quite clear he didn’t want her to ever speak to Grimulda, but that just made her want to do it all the more.
Ascension Page 1