Ange remained stoic, she was no stranger to such a rule.
“Any action you take must be in the betterment and interest of those who depend on you. Harming any of your brethren, an innocent, or defenseless individual in volition or malice is an unforgivable offense,” she added with a cold stare.
Ange frowned, wondering the parameter and implications of such a rule, it was obviously one that had been broken a lot by the way she stated it.
“And finally, the final and most important rule,” her voice became deadly and threatening. “Under no circumstance is a Dragonbound ever to have a romantic or physical relationship with a dragon. Of all our laws this is the most important and one I cannot stress enough.”
Ange instantly noticed as certain faces among the group stiffened. Eirian twitched as Falco’s face warped with obvious agitation. Corvus seemed colder than usual as his eyes shadowed, and Amaris’s face was suddenly furious and she made no effort to hide her ire as she glared at the luminous liquid within the basin.
Ange frowned, unsure how to react to the rule. She didn’t foresee the possibility yet it was obviously something that seemed to greatly bother the majority of the group. She couldn’t help glance timidly at Showl to see his reaction. His face was stiff and cold, his eyes seemed to hold a depth of sorrow and ancient strife.
“Now, Angeline, Showl, please place a few drops of blood into the pool,” Ileana ordered, continuing with indifference to the agitation her last words had stirred.
Angeline felt annoyance lace through her at the Sky Warrior’s leader callous reaction to her friends’ obvious discord with the rule, and making no effort to reassure them or explain why the rule existed. Ange was starting to hate her more and more.
“Do not judge her so quickly,” Showl snapped angrily, surprising Ange with his sudden mental voice and agitation. She glanced up at him but he refused to meet her gaze as he took off his gauntlet. “That rule hurts Ileana the most out of everyone, she has kept her promise to Harfang despite the pain it has caused her and her Councilmembers. Even though we don’t remember why we must abide by the law she continues to uphold it and protect her friends. You must learn to read others better, she is hiding the most anger and agony out of all of them.”
Ange flinched at his words and turned to look at Ileana again.
The woman stared into the pool, her face was emotionless, a perfect façade, but as Ange looked closer she could see the turmoil roiling in her dark brown eyes.
Ange grudgingly frowned and she looked down on her hands, feeling ashamed yet stubborn. She still did not like Ileana, despite Showl’s words.
She returned her gaze to Showl who now had both gauntlets off. He lifted his right hand, his hand balled up into a fist apart from his index finger. Ange watched as his nail blackened and elongated to a sharp point.
Ange tried not to swallow nervously, she thanked that at least the transformation was no longer causing her dread.
“Do you, Rex Glacies Showl, promise to uphold our laws and protect those under your station and make every decision for the betterment of our bound species?” The Council echoed together.
He gently stabbed his other index finger till a large drop of blood bloomed forth, glistening brilliant red as he squeezed his finger over the pool. One drop fell.
“I do,” he vowed.
A ripple quaked through the liquid, as if recoiling.
The single drop of blood began to bleed through the liquid, like the roots of a fast growing plant. The streams of color within the metallic liquid began to roil violently all the while the surface was perfectly still.
Another two drops fell, further agitating the strange properties of the liquid as the blood began to spread and redden the liquid, gradually staining it a thousand shades of red.
Showl picked up her hand gently as he gave her a reassuring smile. She nodded for him to proceed.
“Do you, Angeline, Dragonbound of Rex Glacies Showl, promise to uphold our laws and protect those under your station and make every decision for the betterment of our bound species?” The Council repeated.
Showl’s black talon reached for her finger and quickly pricked her skin before she could get more nervous, then his claw withdrew, shrinking back to a normal human nail.
He let go of her hand and Ange stared down at the drop of red liquid. Frowning, she turned her hand over the basin, barely reaching it with her short arms over the table. Soft and comforting warmth brushed her skin as she squeezed her finger. A drop fell of the crimson liquid.
“I do,” she promised, a nervous waver in her voice.
She watched intently as it fell, on contact, a ring of red rippled out and the strange liquid responded violently. It began to stir and roar, spark and hiss and Ange recoiled instantly, startled. Showl’s strong hands caught her, preventing her from retreating further.
Her drop of blood lanced through the rest of the silvery liquids surface, clawing mercilessly and colliding with Showl’s blood. It quickly bleed out till the entire liquid was hundreds of shades of crimson veins. The liquid began to boil, rising up to meet the ring.
Ange stared fearful at the sudden explosion of heat and life that came from the once inanimate liquid, her back pressed to Showl’s chest and his hand held her shoulders in a strong grip.
The liquid shot up, consuming the ring in a furious and violet torrent. The red liquid began to glow brighter, its brilliance began to stain the room and the people within it in fiery red light. Ange squinted her eyes at the blinding light as it changed quickly into a flaring white.
The light quickly dissipated, returning to normal and as she opened her eyes and they adjusted to the lower light level once more, she realized the living liquid had regained its spectrum of silvery shades as it sloshed back down into the basin. Leaving the white ring shimmering like a star over the pool.
As the liquid stilled once more Ange realized that now instead of one thick banded ring, two smaller bands floated side by side. They floated towards them and Ange instinctually reached for the one that floated toward her, as the ring touched her skin, its glow vanished but still held a comforting warmth. An electrical surge charged her nerves instantly, and she could once again like at her bonding with Showl, feel the presence of other minds. Only this time it was only eight, the link was vague but obvious.
“From this moment on, you, are one of us, fellow Sky Warrior,” The voices off all those present echoed as one, harmoniously and dauntingly. “Welcome to the Council.”
Chapter 18: Educating the Rebellious
“What are those?” Ange asked dumbfounded as she gazed at the piles upon piles of books that now covered her marble desk and hugged the legs by the floor. The majority of the books were thick, some even still held dust but were all well cared for.
She continued to stare with disdain and utter disbelief as Showl set another pile by the floor.
“Books,” he replied like the answer was obvious and stared at her incredulously. He patted his white long-sleeved shirt to remove the dust that clung to the cloth and his long black pants.
“I know what they are!” Ange snapped. “But what are they for? Don’t you have your own room you can pile your own pastimes in?”
Showl chuckled amused by her accusation. “They are for your education, little thief. These books cover some basics and fundamentals in math, sciences, literature, history, politics, comeback tactics, astronomy-”
“Wow wow wow! Hold on for a second!” Ange huffed out from where she stood by her bed. “You’re telling me…that these are the books I have to study? Don’t you think this is a bit much? I mean, what, are we going to bore the Adherent to death with pointless facts? Shouldn’t we be doing something, oh I don’t know, a bit more practical? Like combat training, magic, aerial combat, you know…fun and useful stuff?”
Showl stared at her hard, obviously confused by her words.
“Fun?” he echoed with discontent. “Are you serious, Angeline? You can’t just jump into certai
n subjects without knowing even basic principles, just because they might be boring. All these books are only a small part of your education. There are vast majority of other books and subjects we need to cover before we even being talking about magic, much less teach you how to use it.”
Ange’s mouth hung in horror at his words ‘small part of your education’ and ‘vast majority of other books.’ She felt like she had fallen into a nightmare and wondered if she was still dreaming.
“How did you think you were going to learn all that a Dragonbound is required to know?” he asked expectantly.
“I don’t know!” Ange snapped suddenly, hating the idea of wasting her time in educating herself. “Couldn’t you just share with me all that I need to know like you did when we were flying against Amy and Corvus?”
Showl sighed, suddenly looking tired and guilty.
“There are no shortcuts to the education of a Dragonbound, Angeline,” he corrected dryly. “Absorbing my memories would not even help in the short run. Tell me, what did I share with you two days ago? Do you remember?”
Ange opened her mouth to make a smart remark but nothing came out, she stood up straight suddenly baffled.
“Um…something about air?”
Showl sighed and shook his head. “You see? Absorbing my memories is not the same as memorizing and trying to comprehend a subject on your own. It takes years of training to try to withhold information that is shared between minds.”
Ange frowned with chagrin, hating the fact that everything just had to be plain difficult.
“Another example: Do you remember the memories of the Aeterna Vas you had touched?” he asked seriously, persuading her to think carefully and be truthful.
Ange frown deepened as her eyes squinted as she tried to remember the memories that had flooded her overwhelmingly. Only one memory came into mind.
“The red scales of Phoenix…” she whispered quietly, the fear that had run in the memories suddenly sent a chill down her spine as she remember it. “That’s her name…and title.”
Showl frowned with a hard swallow.
“You remember only that?” he asked carefully.
Ange shook her head feeling suddenly dizzy and her thoughts fuzzy.
“That’s it. I can’t remember anything else. Only the scales and the fear…” Ange admitted. “It’s strange.”
“It is because your mind is not prepared to store foreign memories, it has not been trained to do such. But with practice you’ll easily remember memories shared with you. When another mind shares memories, they are merely projecting them to you, not giving them to you,” he clarified as if the difference was important.
Ange sighed and shoved the thoughts aside, unhappy that the universe was determined to keep as many obstacles in her way.
“Well, find another way to teach me, because I am not going to sit around all day around musty books,” she ranted. “I’ll die of boredom, I don’t care how tough it is for me to absorb other memories. If it means I can skip these books, then by all means, let’s begin!”
Showl frowned suddenly annoyed, his eyes shone with his impatience.
“You are being unreasonably stubborn, little thief. Even if I do teach you how to absorb memories, I have no intention of letting you cheat your way out of this. It is a mandatory part of every Dragonbound’s training, and you are no exception.”
Ange let out a thick groan as she flopped back down on the bed.
“Being a Dragonbound sucks!” she wailed exasperated.
Showl sighed exacerbated, she could feel his annoyance through their bond as well as confusion for her behavior.
“Why is learning so bad?” he asked jadedly.
“Learning isn’t bad,” Ange replied lamely. “I just don’t like books…”
“Because of Daren?” Showl asked cautiously.
Ange scowled as she sat up and looked back on the books, the morning sunlight was filtering through the stain glass windows, dusting gold over their earth tone covers. She was surprised Showl had come to that conclusion.
“What makes you think that?” she asked quietly, staring at the books.
His voice was quiet as he answered. “You…your dreams last night were very vivid. It was mostly memories, and I was too anxious to sleep and I couldn’t help watching,” Showl admitted guiltily.
Ange frowned, she found herself disgruntled but not angry or surprised. She didn’t even remember having any dreams, now she found herself in a bad mood knowing she had dreamed about Daren.
“You didn’t dream of him specifically,” Showl interjected softly. “It was old memories, many…I am sorry for your anger and sorrow his betrayal caused you, Angeline.”
Ange’s brow furrowed in fury, she didn’t want to discuss that topic at the moment, least of all with Showl. He seemed to pick up her thoughts as usual, his thoughts were apologetic and gentle as he realized he was touching a sensitive topic.
She let out a resigned sigh, still unaccustomed to the open honesty she was expected to share with Showl, it still did not settle well with her, revealing her secrets, weaknesses, and insecurities. That or he could shove into her mind to find the answers on his own, which she did not want to happen again.
“I can’t read,” she finally admitted with a growl looking down at her bare feet.
It was silent in the room for a moment, before Showl’s voice broke through the disquiet, serene.
“Then I will teach you,” he replied with no impatience or disgust in his voice.
Ange looked up shocked not feeling any pity or disdain coming from him now that he knew she was illiterate. His mind was absolutely calm, understanding.
He smiled gently at her surprised expression.
“You do not need to feel this way with me, little thief. I will always be here for you, do not be afraid to share your troubles with me.”
Ange smiled sheepishly, grateful. She glanced once more at the books, with a resigned sigh she stood up from the bed and walked over to begin the long road ahead.
***
Three months later, Ange’s writing skills were improving far more rapidly than her reading skills. Her hand writing was becoming eligible and neat, on the other hand, she had quickly picked up how to read small words and simple statements but struggled pronouncing and figuring out larger words. Showl had to add a dictionary to the pile much to her dismay and ire.
Showl was an excellent teacher but on many occasions he was hard to follow. He often complicated her understanding of vowels, nouns, sentence structure, and letter sounds as they formed words as well a specific language rules. She found herself often grimacing during those lectures and when it became apparent that she was not improving very quickly or able to explain it herself, Showl had suggested they seek the teachings of another.
He had explained to her that under normal circumstances, a dragon would not be their partner’s primary educator, most of the time a dragon wasn’t even allowed to help in their Soulbound’s teaching program. But such was no longer the case as there were no other qualified masters to be her professors.
So Angeline eagerly sought out help from her new best friend. Unfortunately, Amaris had declined, stating she was not a very good teacher and that she also had trouble learning how to read, much less teach how to. She had suggested Corvus could help.
Regrettably, Corvus was even more difficult to understand and follow then even Showl. His intimidating bearing also did not help so Ange had quickly moved on, though she suspected he did not do it intentionally. He naturally secreted a dangerous and mysterious air yet somehow had become quick friends with Showl and obviously held strong bonds with Ileana, Grace, Adam, and Chrysaetos. Strangely, when Amaris was around, the dark air around him seemed almost to vanish entirely, instead he seemed warmer. It was all very odd to Ange.
To Ange’s chagrin, Amaris had suggested to seek out Ileana’s help after it was obvious Corvus would only confuse her more. Ange stubbornly refused stating she rather retry being tuto
red by Corvus and Showl together. Yet somehow, Ange found herself in the uncomfortable position of having their leader in her room, offering help.
Under Showl’s watchful eye and hovering mental presence, Ange had no option but to accept and muster her manners and keep her smart mouth in check. She had been shocked after her first lesson with Ileana. She was a good teacher, encouraging and absolutely calm as well as easy to understand. Ange was astonished by Ileana’s praise when she had caught up to speed as well as the leader’s patience. She showed no unfriendliness nor revolt like the first time the group had learned Ange was a thief for a living.
Ange couldn’t say she looked forward to having the human leader around, but when they were studying it seemed all personal feeling had been set aside and a fragile neutral peace existed between them.
Luckily, reading and writing was not all Ange had to contend with. She enjoyed the history lessons as well as the famous literature Showl read to her at the end of a long day of studying.
She had come to like several classic writers, including Nicholas Botlette, a human who had written the famous novella, Amant in Tenebris, a story about a famous evil sorceress who fell in love with a dragon who had relentlessly persecuted her, a love that was as much accidental as it was passionate. Ange also adored several sonnets written by the dragon Valtor but they made her wonder if Richard was alright, if he had even gotten away from the mess they had left behind.
She quickly found two new passions, love stories and art.
Some of the history lessons fascinate her. In great length Showl explained the beginning of the republic the dragons and their Soulbounds built together. The government was very different from many modern governments and the lives of those living in that time were happy and prosperous. Currency didn’t exist, something Ange found unfathomable, crime was also almost unheard of during those times. Everyone was capable of receiving the education they desired and had everything they needed, eliminating greed all together. It was sounding more and more like a utopia fantasy to Ange and she found herself hardly believing Showl, except it was hard to argue with the vivid memories he shared with her.
Sky Warriors: Poleuthan's Thief (Sky Warriors Saga Book 1) Page 27