Dragonlinked

by Adolfo Garza Jr.

  Once back outside his rooms, he cleaned his boots as quietly as he could on the boot scraper and then stepped inside. He carefully closed the outside door and then peeked at Anaya in her den. She had grown a great deal since he had found her over two months ago. She was nearly nineteen feet long now. And she had lost all the sparse fine fur she had as a hatchling. She was still as beautiful as ever, though.

  He had written his father about her a couple of times since moving to the dragon stable, and had gotten as many letters in return. His father was shocked at the news of Anaya and was proud that Aeron was progressing so well in magic and was involved so closely now with Master Doronal and Lord Baronel. It made Aeron happy that his father was proud of him. Aeron finally had a place in the Caer. Two places really, if one counted magic craft and Anaya. And today would cap it all off for him quite excellently. He was so thrilled, he could barely stand still for more than a moment.

  Anaya raised her head, yawning, and turned to him, eyes a happy golden hue in the light from the high windows. You are very excited. Much will happen today.

  “Yes, it will.” He smiled at her, removed his cap, and attacked his hair with the towel. His words were muffled as he said, “I’ve been waiting for this, it seems like, forever.” He rubbed his hair vigorously for a minute or so. “Finally, my Year of Choice is officially over today.” He tossed the towel into the laundry bin. “Truth be told, it was over a few months ago when Master Doronal accepted me as an apprentice.” He unbuttoned his coat and hung it on a coat hook and said, “But still, I am glad I am finally fifteen.”

  You are ready for the spell test?

  “Yes. I am sure I have them all memorized.”

  Good. He will test you this morning after you eat.

  “I remember,” he said, smiling at her. Then, unable to resist, he walked to her and hugged her around the neck.

  She rumbled happily and said, It will be a good day.

  Aeron nodded. It will.

  Anaya looked at the study door and there was a soft knock.

  “That’ll be Willem or Sharrah,” Aeron said and walked over and opened the door.

  “Morning!” Sharrah said with a smile.

  “Good morning,” Aeron replied. “Come in, come in. Your nose is turning red.”

  Sharrah laughed and walked in. “It is chilly outside, though thankfully, clear and not too windy. Which should make you happy.”

  “It does,” Aeron said, closing the door behind her. “It certainly does.”

  “Good morning Anaya,” Sharrah said through the doorway.

  Anaya looked at her and bobbed her head.

  “So,” Sharrah began, turning to Aeron, “you’re ready for the test, yes?”

  Aeron let out a sigh.

  Sharrah smiled, furrowed her brows and asked, “What?”

  Aeron jerked his head at Anaya, “She asked me the same thing.”

  Sharrah laughed. “Well, it’s a good question. Are you ready?”

  “Yes,” Aeron said, exasperated. “I’m ready.”

  “By the way, your hair is a mess,” Sharrah said, looking at the wild tangle on his head. “It looks like you were in a windstorm.”

  “Oh,” Aeron said, “I just finished toweling it.” He walked into his bedroom and stood in front of the mirror, combing his fingers through his slightly damp hair, trying to organize it a bit.

  “You’re not overly afraid of heights, are you?” Sharrah asked from the door to his study.

  “No, I don’t think so. I didn’t have any problems running around on the rooftops that one time.”

  “Oh, that’s right. No, I suppose you aren’t.”

  Aeron finally gave up on his hair and returned, sitting at his desk.

  “That’s better,” Sharrah said, looking at him. “You almost look presentable.”

  “Me? Presentable?” Aeron asked and smiled.

  A knock signaled Willem’s arrival. Aeron stood and opened the door.

  “‘Morning,” Willem said as he walked in. “Are you ready for your test?”

  Sharrah burst out laughing and Aeron growled.

  “What?” Willem asked, looking from one to the other.

  Aeron put on his coat and pulled his cap onto his head. “Let’s go eat,” he said, walking out the door. Behind him he heard Anaya’s grunting laugh before the door closed.

  “Well done,” Master Doronal said. “That’s the third. Now for the last spell.”

  He moved the strange item that had been used with the previous spell to the side. From within a wooden box next to it, he removed four metal rods, each about an inch in diameter, about five inches long, and with marks along the sides. He placed them in front of Aeron. He also handed Aeron a pair of goggles, putting on another pair himself.

  Used to having to wear goggles for some spells as a precaution, Aeron put on his goggles with no comment and looked at the rods quizzically. They looked to be made of lead, the marks on their sides evenly spaced and numbered 1 through 5.

  “You have been proceeding through the spells at a very decent pace. Akina’s Compression is the last spell in your primer.” Master Doronal looked at Aeron. “The basic spell has two vector components of equal length, like arrows, pointing toward each other. As you know, a vector component indicates direction. What you may not know is that for certain spells the length of a vector is directly proportional to the amount of force the spell will use along the vector.” He placed one of the rods closer to Aeron. “Please place one vector on each end of the rod and have them point toward the center of the rod. Use the length in the basic spell. You may begin when ready.”

  Aeron nodded and looked at the rod. He created the compression framework, then carefully began adding in the spell steps, aware of both the apparent necessity of the goggles as well as the fact that Master Doronal was watching the spell through the training bracelets. When the spell was complete, he heard an odd soft sound as the rod suddenly shortened. Its ends were now much thicker and had deformed somewhat.

  “Excellent,” Master Doronal said. “Please note that the rod has been compressed evenly from both ends. Only the numeral 3 is now visible on the side, which was at the middle of the rod.” He lifted another of the original rods, turning it to display the numbered marks. After a moment, he placed it closer to Aeron as well.

  “Now, the spell again, but this time create the vector on this end,” he tapped the end of the rod closest to the 5, “with half the length as before. And increase the length of the other vector by half. Have the vectors point the same directions as before.”

  Aeron nodded and began. When he was finished, the rod made the odd squishing-crushing sound again. But now, 4 was the visible mark.

  “I see!” Aeron said gleefully. “You can make the spell compress things how you want by adjusting the length, or strength, and number of vectors.”

  Master Doronal smiled. “Exactly correct. However, I would not recommend only using one vector in this case, or the rod would fly in the direction of the single vector. If the item you are trying to compress with only one vector isn’t resting against or is not part of something immovable, it won’t compress, it will simply be pushed. Observe.” Master Doronal removed another rod, this one made of what looked like sponge, from the same wooden box and placed it on the desk.

  “Imagine my finger as one vector and my thumb as the other, both of equal length.” Master Doronal placed his finger and thumb at either end of the rod and squeezed. The rod was pressed between them and was now much shorter. “As you can see, it has been compressed quite the same as the rods we’ve been working on.” He released the sponge rod. “However, if I try to use only one vector . . .” He slowly moved his finger toward the rod. Once his finger made contact, the rod slid along the desk, pushed by his digit. “. . . it doesn’t work. In order to compress an object, you need to compress it between at least two things.” He placed his other hand on the desk, palm facing the rod. When the rod reached his palm, still being pushed by his fing
er, it was compressed. “And one or more compressors do not necessarily have to be related to the spell at all. They can be something the object to be compressed is being pushed against, or is a part of.”

  Aeron nodded. “Yes, I see that now.”

  “Good.” Master Doronal returned the sponge rod to the box and moved another metal rod closer to Aeron. “Because you were able to learn the lesson of varying the vectors to adjust how the compression will affect the item being compressed, we can skip to the last example in the test, which shows how dangerous compression can be. And the reason for the goggles!” Master Doronal tapped his goggles and smiled at Aeron. “The original spell, if you would, on this rod. But I want you to adjust the vectors so that both are four times their original length.”

  “Four times?” Aeron raised his brows.

  “Yes.”

  Aeron shrugged inwardly and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly as he looked at the rod. He thought about the adjustments he would make to the spell and began casting it, slowly and surely. When it was done, the rod jerked mightily and there was a soft ‘blort’ sound, almost like when you stomp your foot in thick mud. The rod was gone. In its place was a very ragged ring of violently wrenched lead, a perfectly circular hole at its center. Aeron was surprised and looked at Master Doronal.

  Chuckling, Master Doronal said, “If you compress something between two vectors too much, you can tear a hole in it, assuming it is something malleable, like lead. If we had tried that with anything brittle, like stone, or glass, it would merely have shattered, exploded. Even with lead, however, if things happen just so, a piece could have flown off. Thus the safety goggles. Which we can now remove.” He put his hand out and Aeron returned the goggles to him. Master Doronal placed both to the side.

  “You will note,” Master Doronal said as he picked up the lead ring, “that this hole in the center is the size of the original rod’s diameter. Anchors also determine the area affected by their associated vectors. The anchors on each end of the rod pushed toward each other over an area the size of the end of the rod, so when they met, they pressed out a hole that size as well.”

  He picked up the deformed rods and placed them in another small box, returning the remaining rod to the wooden box. “And that concludes the test for this week. Well done on the spells, Aeron.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Now it is time for you to move on to the next stage of training.” Master Doronal smiled, stood, and began looking along the bookshelves behind him. “Ah, yes. Here is your next book, The Apprentice Book of Magic.” He removed a somewhat thicker book than the primer from the shelf and slid it over to Aeron.

  “The tone of this book is a little drier than the primer.”

  “Good,” Aeron said. “Sometimes the primer got a little, uh, silly.”

  “Indeed. Well, it was designed for complete magical novices, for which it serves adequately. This book, on the other hand, assumes you are familiar with magic and so is a bit more formal.”

  Aeron nodded and leafed through the first few pages.

  “This afternoon we will go over the book and your next stages of training. But for now, I believe we have an appointment with a young dragon?”

  Aeron smiled and nodded excitedly.

  When Aeron and Master Doronal arrived at the dragon stable, Sharrah and Willem were there, waiting.

  Master Doronal glanced in at Anaya and said, “Good morning, Anaya.”

  The young dragon looked at the magic master and bobbed her head.

  Master Doronal smiled, sat at Aeron’s desk, and said, “I assume it will take a few minutes to get ready. Did anyone think to bring coffee?”

  “Right here, Master Doronal.” Sharrah poured a cup and handed it to him.

  “What a delightful happenstance. Thank you, my girl.” He raised his cup to Sharrah in thanks and took a sip.

  Willem walked over to Aeron’s moving chest and opened the lid. “I brought the riding gear, with all the latest adjustments completed. Sharrah and I already put the new saddle on Anaya.” He removed the gear from the chest, which he had used to ferry everything over from the Leather Craft Hall.

  Aeron removed the jacket from on top and looked at it excitedly. “Golden! Come on, I need to get changed.”

  Willem carried the rest of the gear behind Aeron and dumped it on the bed in the other room. Aeron stripped to his smallclothes and started throwing the riding gear on quickly.

  “Hang on,” Willem said. “This isn’t something to rush, this gear is important for your safety.” He pointed to Aeron’s waist. “You’ve left two of the three waist straps on the riding pants undone. The one you did attempt isn’t even on right, and your shirt isn’t tucked in properly either.”

  “Oh, come on! I want to get out there!” Aeron slipped on the riding jacket and made to leave the room.

  Willem grabbed him by the arm and spun him around. “This isn’t some game. This is important.” Willem was nearly glaring at Aeron, which surprised him. “You are going to be dozens, maybe hundreds of feet in the air. If you fall from there, you will be killed.”

  “He’s right, you know,” Sharrah’s voice came from the other room.

  “Listen to Willem, Aeron,” Master Doronal said. “You must follow all the precautions if you want to be allowed this experiment.”

  You must not be careless.

  Aeron sighed. Alright, love, alright. “Fine,” he said aloud. “It’s just . . . this is what I was hoping I’d get for my birthing day, to fly on Anaya.”

  Willem’s expression softened momentarily, but then he shook his head. He leaned forward, unbuckled the incorrectly buckled waist strap and stood back. “Well, you’ve wasted more time than it would have taken to do it right in the first place. Now, put your gear on properly.” He crossed his arms and stood watching Aeron, a fierce look in his eye.

  Aeron grimaced and removed the riding jacket. Willem had gone over the proper method of wearing the riding gear many times in the last week with Aeron, so he knew it almost by heart. He just wanted to get on with it! But they were right, he needed to take more care.

  With a sigh, he tucked in his shirt—properly—and buckled all three waist straps on the riding pants. He put on his riding cap, leaving the face mask undone, and picked up the riding jacket, slipping it on. Starting at the top and working his way down, he buttoned the jacket closed. He then secured the front flap, which covered the buttons, with snaps, and buckled the heavy strap at the bottom of the jacket. Next, he grabbed the riding gloves, shoving them in the jacket pockets. And lastly, he attached the clasps from the pants to the bottom of the jacket.

  When he was finished, he looked over himself in the mirror to check whether he had missed anything and turned to Willem. “I think I got everything, yes?”

  Willem grunted and nodded.

  Aeron grinned impishly at Willem, said, “Then let’s go!” and dashed out of the room.

  Willem let out an exasperated sigh and yelled, “You left the riding straps!” He grabbed them off the bed and headed after Aeron.

  “I must say, you look very sporty in that,” Sharrah was saying when Willem reached Anaya’s den, where they were all standing.

  “Indeed.” Master Doronal nodded to Willem in approval. “And it looks very safe.”

  “It fits well, too,” Sharrah said.

  “It should,” Aeron said, “we spent enough time taking my measurements and adjusting the gear.”

  “It has to fit properly,” Willem said, defensively. “If it doesn’t, it won’t work correctly and you might get injured.”

  “Absolutely,” Master Doronal agreed.

  Too much talk. It is time for fun!

  Anaya stood and raised her front left leg. Aeron stepped up onto it with his right foot, grabbed the pull strap, which hung down from the saddle, and hauled himself up. Once he was practically standing on her leg, he placed his left foot in the stirrup and used it to lift his body over and onto the saddle. It all happened i
n one smooth move in less than three seconds.

  “Nicely done,” Master Doronal remarked.

  “Bravo,” Sharrah said and clapped.

  “It almost looks like you know what you’re doing,” Willem said, smiling.

  “Almost,” Aeron said, laughing.

  “And now these,” Willem said, tossing the straps up to Aeron.

  He caught the riding straps and began attaching them, first to the bottom of the jacket and then to the saddle. When they were securely attached, Aeron moved around on the saddle, testing it. “This version of the saddle is much more comfortable.”

  How about for you? he asked Anaya. Is the saddle comfortable? Does it hurt anywhere?

  It is comfortable. The new padding is a big improvement. I think I could fly for hours with this one.

  “Anaya says she could spend hours with this version too.” Aeron smiled at Willem.

  “Well, let me know whether it stays comfortable after actually flying. So far, you’ve only sat on saddles while Anaya was on the ground.”

  “True enough, and I will give a full accounting of the flight. If it ever happens!” He turned to Master Doronal. “Can we start now, pleeeaaase?” he begged.

  “Put your gloves on first,” Willem said.

  “Oh! Right.” Aeron removed the gloves from the jacket pockets and pulled them on over the jacket sleeves, snapping their straps closed. “There, I am ready to go.”

  “Alright then,” Master Doronal said. “If you would assist me Willem?” He walked to the right sliding door and Willem quickly made his way to the left. They slid them open, revealing the snow-covered yard beyond. Willem, Sharrah and Master Doronal closed their jackets and moved outside into the bright winter sunlight.

  Are you ready for this? Aeron sent to Anaya.