Dragon School_Bright Hopes

by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  I had a bad feeling that we’d need it very soon.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Open the cage and haul them out here!” Our cage was entirely ringed with enemies now. We had no weapons, no way to fight them off. The only one of us with any power was Savette and she was still asleep.

  You did cause trouble while I was sleeping. Didn’t I warn you about that?

  Raolcan! He was back!

  Hold fast. We have a plan.

  There was a clanking at the door of the cage. I grabbed Savette and pulled her onto my lap. I didn’t want anyone to slip and step on her as she lay on the floor. She murmured something.

  “Savette? Are you waking up?”

  No reply.

  There was a sudden roar from further up the line of cages. I turned towards the sound just in time to see a burst of fire roll out of one of the cages up ahead. A second and third burst rolled out right afterward and then flames spewed in a steady stream.

  There were screams from the tents too close to the outburst as they lit up like bonfires. People ran in all directions, dragging things from the flames, throwing water over their burning possessions and calling for the black Dragons. What were our dragons thinking? They were going to be burnt to cinders when the other dragons arrived!

  Not if we get out of these cages first. We permitted this nonsense when your lives were held hostage. We won’t allow it now that they threaten you.

  The door of our cage swung open and one of the guards strode into the cage. “What’s going on here?”

  “Lightning struck the cage. What do you expect with metal cages in the middle of field during a storm?” Hubric growled.

  The guard shook his head, but behind him someone called, “Lock the cage back up. The dragons are escaping!”

  The guard’s eyes narrowed and I could almost see what he was thinking. We were their hostages to keep the dragons in line. Maybe it was time to use us for that.

  “You’re coming with us,” he said, gesturing for us to follow him out of the cage.

  “Our companion is ill and cannot walk,” Hubric objected.

  “You have arms, don’t you? Carry her!”

  Despite his raised voice, he was barely audible over the commotion in the yards. People ran back and forth, screaming and shouting. Black dragons – far down the line – launched into the air. The crowd that had been outside our cage moments ago had melted away to just a handful of guards, the rest distracted by the chaos beyond us.

  Hubric lifted Savette up in his arms, Haskell helping him. My lips pressed tightly together. She wasn’t heavy, but Hubric wasn’t young. Savette would strain him if he had to carry her far.

  “Hubric?” she mumbled.

  “Right here, girl dear. Right here,” he comforted her, carrying her like a child despite his reddening face. The rain had soaked all of us through, though it did little to put out the fires raging through the camp.

  Were Raolcan and the others out yet?

  Yes, but we’re a tad occupied. Hold on.

  A purple dragon barrelled across my field of vision. Kyrowat! He flamed at people, horses, and tents indiscriminately. Would he know who we were? What would stop him from burning us with his flames, too?

  Crazy though he is, he does love Hubric. In his own cranky way.

  The guards around us fenced us in on all sides and the one who had opened the cage wheeled around to address us. “Get your dragons in line! If this chaos doesn’t end immediately I’ll kill you one by one until it does.”

  “How do you expect us to do that, huddled in the rain?” Hubric demanded. He lowered Savette to the ground where she leaned against him. Could she sort of stand now? “If you want them calmed down, then you’ll have to let me near them.”

  I hobbled forward and put my free arm under Savette’s transferring her weight from Hubric to me. Her head lolled, but she was definitely holding up most of her weight. Was she recovering? Her power was our only hope!

  Not exactly our only hope. Never discount what dragons can do!

  But there were at least a dozen black dragons headed this way. As if my thought had summoned the worst, Kyrowat dashed back across my vision, retreating back the way he came. Fire flared behind him as a pair of black dragons and their riders chased after him. How would our dragons fare, fighting other dragons? It was a horrible thought! And none of us had weapons – except my crutch. I often forgot about that...

  “You’re not going anywhere,” the guard said, grabbing Haskell by the hair and yanking her to him. She shrieked, clutching at her hair and kicking at him, but he put his sword to her throat, forcing her to stillness. “Results. Now! Or this one dies.”

  What could we do? We couldn’t ask our dragons to stand down. That would mean their deaths.

  “One,” the guard said.

  “Can you stand, Savette?” I whispered.

  “Mmm?”

  I looked around, for someone to take her. The Dominar was close, and he still had one good arm. I gave him the dragon rider sign for “come here.” Would he know it?

  Yes! He shuffled subtly toward me and I leaned Savette toward him until her head found his shoulder instead of mine. The guard’s focus was on Hubric. If I could just work my way around him without anyone realizing what I was doing...

  Behind Hubric, Kyrowat turned on his pursuers so suddenly that one of them reared up while the other stumbled. Like a shot, the Purple’s neck shot out, his jaws shutting around the black dragon’s neck and his teeth sinking deep into the flesh of the other. The black dragon screamed and round me, I heard a dozen mouths suck in breath. Every guard around us was watching the grizzly display as Kyrowat shook the other dragon like a dog with a groundhog in his jaws. Screams and flames were ripped from the mouth of his victim. I used the distraction to hobble to the side of the guard and release the catch on my cane.

  A second set of gasps met my ears, but I didn’t look to see what new horror Kyrowat had accomplished. Instead, I flicked my crutch into the quarterstaff it could be transformed into and then with careful precision, struck the guard on the temple with as much force as I could muster.

  Chapter Eighteen

  He slumped to the ground, his sword falling from his limp hand.

  The next moments seemed to stretch out as we scrambled to defend ourselves. I pivoted so that Savette and the Dominar were at my back at the same moment that Haskell screamed and rushed away from the guards to the Dominar’s side. Hubric leapt forward and snatched up the fallen sword.

  The nearest guard had already engaged me and after that I lost track of anything else, concentrating all my power on keeping his sword blade from reaching me. I was handy with the quarterstaff, but no match for a trained swordsman. There was a scream from behind me followed by a series of sobs. What had happened? Who had fallen? I didn’t dare turn my attention away from the battle to look.

  On my way.

  I was pressed backward. I heard Hubric curse loudly, but the grunts and groans from his direction told me he was holding his own with that sword. I backed up another step, trying to keep the guard from stepping too close and finishing me off. It was a mistake. I stumbled into someone, heard someone moan and then a second guard joined the fight against me. He pressed in from one side so quickly that I had to pivot backward, stumbling over something on the ground. It was Analia, lying lifeless on the rocks. It must have been her scream I’d heard. My breath was growing rapid, my lungs burning from the exertion of pivot, thrust, parry, and sweep. I tasted blood in my mouth from the effort of my lungs fighting to keep up.

  “Hold them back!” Hubric called.

  I was trying! I missed a parry and hot pain seared me as the guard’s sword bit into my bad leg. Flashes of pain shot through my leg all the way down to the ankle and all the way up to my chest. It hurt so much! Fortunately, I was at least used to working without a leg.

  I pivoted again - ignoring the warmth of blood spilling down my calf - and gaining distance between myself and the guard
with the bloodstained sword. I was already sweating hard, my lungs and heart pushed to their limits as I worked faster and harder than I’d ever had to before.

  This was it. They were too strong for me. Too quick. I couldn’t keep up. I barely registered the glint in one of the guard’s eyes before he nodded to his friend and together, they lunged forward. I stepped backward, lost my balance, was falling through the air when out of nowhere a purple jaw snatched the first guard from the ground, flinging him through the air. As soon as he was free of the snapping jaws, a stream of white-hot fire seared the other guard to ash.

  Sorry, I’m late.

  Raolcan! I rushed to him, embracing his wide neck. Relief filled me.

  No time. Hop aboard.

  I climbed up on his back and before I was even settled, Shonan was there with Savette. Together we hauled her onto his wide back. I held her tightly with one arm, the other arm holding on to the base of one of Raolcan’s wings. Dragons needed to come with handles.

  Despite the enormous stress of the moment, I felt Raolcan laughing beneath me.

  Hurry. We have only a moment before they regroup.

  Across from us, I saw Hubric leaping onto Kyrowat’s back. He helped Haskell up behind him. Was there a place for the Dominar?

  Rasipaer comes.

  There he was! Shonan ran to the Purple, awkwardly mounting the great Purple dragon, hindered by his lost arm.

  The dragons formed a circle, tails in, heads out. Were we still under threat of attack? Couldn’t we just fly away?

  Look up.

  I looked up.

  Around us, at least a dozen dragons were joining a swirling ring. On the fields to either side, the guards and warriors regrouped, I saw hands pointed towards us. Even if we were to open the other cages right now, the allies we could find would be as weaponless as we were. We had three dragons to their dozen and two people with weapons – did I even count as that? – to their many. We needed help. We couldn’t do this on our own.

  I’m calling for help as hard as I can.

  Not what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear that help was on its way.

  Hold on tight. This part is up to us.

  I gripped his wing tightly and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Savette grip his other wing. Good! She could help me keep herself safe.

  “Are you back with us, Savette?” I asked.

  “Mostly,” her voice was weak. “I’m weak as a newborn kitten.”

  We wouldn’t be getting any magical assistance from her, then. Not this time.

  “Just try to hold on. We’re about to be attacked.”

  The dragon ring showed the first sign of change when one dragon dropped out of the circle, darting towards us like an arrow. A loud cry rose up from the men on the ground, and then their dark figures rushed towards us at the same time that the dragons - all, as one unified whole – dove to attack.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Raolcan rose into the air, spiraling around his first attacker like a duelist seeking an opening. The dragon was fierce-looking with a wide mane-like frill around his face that flared out when he looked the angriest. His rider – dressed in Dragon Rider black – also wore black scarves. One of them, trimmed with gold thread, covered his nose and mouth. Somehow, the mask-like effect felt chilling.

  I gripped Raolcan’s wing as he dove forward, barely missing the spewing fire of the other dragon. Heat seared across my back from the blaze, but I leaned forward, pressing my body over Savette’s with my leathers on, I had a little more protection than she did in her simple dress.

  We wheeled to the side, Raolcan snapping at the other dragon’s neck and then bursting his own flare of fire off at the dragon. The moment we were out of his reach, a second dragon dove towards him. He twisted out of the way, but his movements were more limited than the black dragons’ were. Their riders were in saddles and straps. They didn’t have to concentrate on staying level, like Raolcan did.

  Maybe he should leave us on the ground.

  Look at the ground before you say that.

  Kyrowat still stood on the ground, spinning in a tight circle, flaming at a steady rhythm like a metronome was setting his pace. Even with steady gouts of flame in all direction, he could only keep the crowd immediately in front of his face at bay. Hubric hacked and slashed at the guards that surged to Kyrowat’s rear as he spun. Some, Hubric wounded, but they pressed in so close that as I watched, Haskell was dragged from Kyrowat’s back and lost in a sea of guards. Kyrowat kicked off, leaping into the air.

  Where was Haskell? I scanned the crowd looking for her, but I could see no trace of her before Raolcan spun again and I lost all sense of where we were. In front of me, Savette’s light was growing brighter. Her head began to hold itself up. Could she recover in time to save us?

  Unlikely. Focus on holding on.

  A dragon dove in so close that all I saw was his massive eye. I screamed as his jaw snapped inches from my face. We dropped - the pit of my stomach dropping out with us – out of danger for a moment. My gaze traveled upward to see Rasipaer flaming at the dragon who had almost killed me.

  We were holding our own, but for how long?

  Raolcan shuddered under me and I had to let go of Savette to grip his wing with both hands as we shook back and forth, fishtailing through the sky. Beside me, a white-faced Savette held on to the other wing. My grip wasn’t strong enough! I was going to fall.

  Two of them have me by the tail!

  In front of me, I saw Rasipaer surrounded by four spiraling dragons. They surrounded him on every side, flaming and snapping like a living cage.

  There was no sign of Kyrowat or Hubric. Wherever they were, there were plenty of black dragons left to keep them as pinned down as we were. We had only moments before we would be overwhelmed and destroyed and with us, the hope not only of the Dominion, but if the Dusk Covenant and their Ifrits spread – the hope of the world.

  “Savette!” I called. “Is there anything you can do?”

  She shook her head, terror in her eyes. The rain, kicking up again, lashed against us, filling our eyes and mouths as we tried to speak.

  “There’s no hope,” she said. “I can’t reach my magic. I’m too weak.”

  So, this was it. We’d come so far, and this was it. I looked off in the distance, trying to catch one last glance at the moon between the clouds of rain. Somewhere out there, Leng was under the same moon. Hopefully, he’d understand that we’d tried. We’d done all that we could.

  Raolcan twisted, snapping at the dragons on his tail. He was too occupied to even talk to me. I didn’t judge him for that. We were just trying to survive. I lessened my grip on his wing, reaching to wrap my hand over one of Savette’s, seeking to give and receive comfort all at once.

  A new black dragon slipped in on Raolcan’s blind spot, clamping his teeth into my best friend’s neck. Raolcan screamed. Tears intermingled with the rain on my face. There was nothing I could do. No way I could stop the death of my best friend. I hoped he knew that I loved him, that I understood he’d sacrificed himself for me the day he chose to be my dragon.

  Chapter Twenty

  Raolcan! Please know that I love you! Please don’t die thinking you are alone. I’m here with you all the way.

  Not dead yet.

  He reared back suddenly, as three dragons – Red, Green and White - appeared out of the torrent and ripped the black dragon from Raolcan’s neck. They dragged the black dragon away, out of my line of vision. Raolcan spun, and I saw a mighty Purple dragon descend from the clouds. It flamed the dragon still gripping Raolcan’s tail, while its rider leaned forward and with artisan-like precision, slid his short sword into the dragon’s vulnerable eye.

  I gasped, but not just for the violence of it all. In the middle of the storm, lightning flared and it glinted off the bald head of the rider.

  Leng!

  He’d come for us.

  Savette was openly weeping – from relief or something else. I gazed around us in wonder a
s hundreds of dragons descended around us, subduing the black dragons and their riders and the guards on the ground and gathering them into an ever-tightening ring of hundreds of multi-colored dragon bodies.

  I’d almost forgotten about the wild dragons. I’d almost stopped wondering where they were! I’d feared the worst about them for so long that I’d begun to believe it myself!

  Ahlskibi spun around and swooped in, level with us. In the torrential rain, I could just make out Leng’s “all’s well” dragon sign before they darted past us.

  My mouth was still hanging open as Raolcan began to drift toward the ground. Was I dreaming?

  If you were dreaming, my neck wouldn’t hurt so much. Seriously. You let some human bite your neck and see how much you like it. It might not kill you, but I bet you anything you’d be wearing a scarf for a few weeks while it healed.

  Why hadn’t Raolcan told me they were close?

  Didn’t want to get your hopes up.

  Had Leng really just shown up at the head of an army of dragons and rescued us?

  Let’s hope so, or this landing I’m planning is a terrible idea.

  Relief was so powerful that I felt like I was losing my grip on what was real. I wouldn’t really be able to believe it until I was touching Leng, both of us standing on the ground.

  Oh sure, that’s what you tell yourself. “I just need to touch him to know it’s real.” Not because you’re in love with him and you can’t keep those hands to yourself. Not at all. Oh, and don’t mind me. It’s not like I have bite wounds on my tail and neck or anything.

  Right. We needed to attend those first. What could I do to help?

  Honesty, I just need a rest. Why don’t you two stand on your own feet for a moment?

  Savette and I dropped to the ground. I circled around to place a hand on Raolcan’s cheek and look him in the eye.