We don’t mind sleeping in the rain. At least it isn’t snow. That’s a relief!
And at least Hubric had a pair of sheep for them.
It will tide us over until we can get a real meal, although we’ve been given strict warnings to eat them over that hill in the distance so we don’t terrify the farmer.
“Get Savette settled inside with some food. I’ll bring the sheep over to Kyrowat and Raolcan. They can’t eat them so close to the farm,” Hubric said. He shoved the pot of roasted vegetables at me and strode away.
I found Savette next to Raolcan. She was caressing his wing absently, her face tilted up to the sky as if she didn’t care that her blindfold was getting wet. I could see a faint glow behind it. Was the light in her eyes getting brighter, or was it just because the cloth was wet?
“Come inside the barn, Savette. We can dry out and eat something hot.”
She didn’t answer, so I hobbled closer and touched her shoulder, balancing so I could still hold our dinner at the same time.
“Savette?”
“Mmm?”
“Come into the barn with me for the night. The dragons will be fine.”
“Someone is coming.” Her voice was far away.
I spun around, peering into the fading light in every direction. There was no sign of anyone but us.
“Let’s deal with that when they get here.”
“He’s having trouble finding us.”
“Can you follow me?” I still couldn’t believe that she could move around with her eyes completely covered. It made me nervous. What else could she do now?
Without answering, Savette turned to me and when I began to hobble toward the barn, she followed me.
“Who do you think we really are, Amel? Are we oppressors because we harness dragons and ride them when they should be free?”
“Perhaps,” I said. I didn’t like the idea of dragons being bound to dragon riders any more than she did.
“Or are we the best defense our people have? Where should our priorities lie? Should I be trying to learn more power to defend my people, or should I forsake it and refuse to participate in protest for what they do to dragons? Should I seek to fulfill Hubric’s prophesies or wait to watch someone else leap in and fulfill them? Should I let this magical self merge with this shadow of who I used to be, or should I hold them apart to keep them both safe?” She sounded so torn, like she’d lost her inner source of guidance.
“I think you should ask someone wiser than me,” I said. I was shivering, and not just from the rain.
“Who is wiser than you, sweet Amel?”
“Hubric? Ephretti? Raolcan. There are many people wiser than I am.”
She laughed. “Modesty is a lovely trait, but it’s not entirely honest right now. I think your words are exactly the ones I need right now.”
I swung the barn door open. The hay was stale, and mildew tinged the air. We walked in together and I scrambled to drag an old barrel out of a corner for Savette to sit on as I rummaged through the barn for supplies. There. An empty crate I could flip over and use as a table. I set to work.
“I know nothing about magic, Savette,” I said as I worked. I didn’t have much to offer her, but if she wanted my words, I should think of something to help. “But I think I know you a bit. You’re honorable and deep. You want to serve your family and the Dominion and you don’t want to hurt the people around you or be boxed in. The best way to do that isn’t to fight this power. It’s to channel it somehow into good. Don’t let it eat up who you are. Don’t get blinded by ambition or greed. Find ways to make it serve you instead of you serving it.”
Her arms hugged her and I heard her muttering, “Let it serve me.”
Hubric entered the barn, banging the door shut behind him. “Well, it’s a good night to have a roof over our heads. It’s only drizzling now, but it will be howling soon enough out there. I brought our things inside.”
He carried the satchels full of our gear into the barn and looked over the food I’d laid out. “Eat first, fire second. We need to dry out the fur cloaks and our clothing. No one wants saddle chap, do they?”
I shook my head. He nodded briskly and handed around the food and we ate in silence, enjoying something hot for a change.
Sheep’s not bad, either ... for something domesticated.
I could almost feel that he was over the hill instead of right outside the barn door. I was getting better at sensing him.
I was just finishing the chores after dinner, hanging the last of the wet things up around the flickering fire I’d built over the grate when the door opened again with another bang. Hubric had gone out to scrounge more wood. He needed to be more careful with that door or we’d be paying for that, too. Savette leapt to her feet. Startled, I turned to look at the door.
Hubric stood on tiptoes as a man shoved him forward into the barn, a knife to his neck. On either side, two pairs of intruders spread out on either side to surround us. I gasped.
“These are the ones we’re looking for, alright,” said a slight woman with a long scar on her face. There was something familiar about her. No, not her. It was her cheek. She had a symbol tattooed on it that I’d seen before. The sign of a spiral with a line slashed through it. I’d seen one just like it on Magika Hectorus’ robes.
Chapter Thirteen
My eyes ran over our attackers. The man holding Hubric was huge, but he was only holding the knife and no other weapons. I knew by now that Hubric could have fought him if he wasn’t ambushed. They must have caught him by surprise when he stepped out of the barn.
The weedy woman and the man beside her held swords, but they stood in dramatic poses, not with their feet well balanced beneath them. Hubric had taught me to stand properly to fight. It was clear that these two were untaught.
On the other side of the room, was a young man in Magika robes and a woman holding a quarterstaff. Their clothing and weapons didn’t match the others. They’d been pulled together from what was available. Did that mean they were Dusk Covenant? And didn’t they know that we had dragons?
They know.
Had they sent men out to attack out dragons? There was a roar from outside the barn and a flash of brightness like one of them had flamed. What was going on?
Four Magikas. We rushed back when they grabbed Hubric and found them here. They work against us and we don’t dare flame your barn.
My heart was in my throat. The woman nearest me took a step forward and I shuffled my foot to the position Hubric had taught me, flicking my crutch into a quarterstaff with practiced skill. Five to two in here and four to two out there. It was time to put my lessons to work, even if it made my stomach churn just to think of it.
“This one has teeth!” the woman in front of me laughed. She braced her quarterstaff like she meant to attack.
“The cripple?” The man beside her frowned. “You’re worried about a cripple, a blind girl, and an old man?”
“I’m not worried,” the woman said, taking a second step forward. That quarterstaff was looking dangerous.
Colorful flares and gouts of flames showed through the cracks in the barn walls, but I didn’t dare worry about Raolcan. I had my own problems here. My palms were slick with sweat at the thought of my first fight.
You’re ready. Do exactly what you were taught. And don’t worry about us. Kyrowat is wily and I am Raolcan!
My opponent jabbed at me and I pivoted out of the way, turning my pivot into a block just as Hubric had taught me. From the corner of my eye, I saw him slip out of the grasp of the man holding him while they were all distracted by my fight. I didn’t have time to watch more. My enemy’s quarterstaff came whistling toward my head. I dropped to one knee, using my own staff to jab at her. She barely blocked the jab and then I was pulling myself up on the staff and using it to pivot out of her reach again.
I spun to where Savette was in view. She threw up her hands, spread wide and forward like she was about to launch something into the air. Wind wh
ipped up around her, billowing her long silvery hair out in every direction. Her hands filled with light that focused into a beam shooting out from her hand. As it left her palms she crumpled to the ground like a dropped doll. What -?
I felt the crack of my opponent’s staff to my ribs. I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted! Frustrated, I barely got my staff up to defend myself from the follow-up. My ribs ached, my eyes burned with the afterglow of Savette’s magic, and pain seared through my head.
As I spun out of the way of another attack I saw Savette’s beam had found its mark. The Magika was nothing but a pair of velvet boots smoking on the floor and a black char mark all around where they lay. I gasped and spun. I needed to get out of this defensive stance or I’d be no help to anyone! The other woman – the one with the tattoo on her face – was closing on me from my weak side. If two of them engaged me at once, then all was lost.
I jabbed toward my original opponent, following that up with a wide, two-handed strike toward her head. Bewildered by my sudden attack, she missed the block on the second blow and staggered. I took my opening and struck her knee. It must hurt so much to get hit there! Why was I doing this to her? I needed to stop and think about my actions!
Stop second guessing yourself and strike or they’ll kill us all!
I obeyed. First, I hit her with the end of my staff, a hard jab to the midsection and then a second whack to the ribs. She fell to the floor, but a moment later, I fell, too, my quarterstaff knocked out from under me, and with it, my balance. The tattooed woman leapt on top of me, straddling me and pinning me to the ground.
“I have the other girl!” she yelled. “Which one are we supposed to take alive?”
“The blonde,” the thick, muscle-bound man yelled, and the woman suddenly had a wicked glimmer in her eye. I heard a cry and the thick sound of something heavy hitting meat. “Don’t think you can get me that way, old man.”
I twisted, looking for Hubric. He was kneeling on the ground, one man dead and bleeding beside him and the man with the knife leaning over him, pulling his knife from Hubric’s arm. We were outmatched and beaten. Was there anyone to rescue us?
These Magikas are tough. We still have two more to dispatch. We can’t flame the barn without hurting you, too.
What would we do? I squirmed under the tattooed woman and she smacked me in the face. My head rang with pain and I tasted blood. I coughed and sputtered on it.
“Not so high and mighty now, are we, girl?” she asked, sword raised. She was watching me like she wanted to see something on my face before she finished me.
Help comes!
Raolcan! Always there for me!
Not me.
The door opened, once more with a crash. Could no one treat that door with respect? Through the smoke and dust with moonlight outlining him from behind, the silhouette of a man rushed forward. One swipe of his curving sword and the head of the large thug was severed. He toppled forward as Hubric dove out of the way. Two more steps and the figure leapt forward. His plucked my attacker off me and flung her to the side. She hit a beam and fell senseless to the floor.
A hand grabbed mine, pulling me up. I was shaking from top to bottom when I finally met his eye. Rakturan.
Chapter Fourteen
“You shouldn’t have left me behind if you couldn’t protect her,” he said, letting go of me and rushing to Savette’s fallen form. “What have they done to her?”
“Nothing,” Hubric said with a cough. His hand felt at the wound on his arm gingerly. “She did it to herself. Her magic is too strong. She needs help. And right now, she needs time to recover.”
“She needs healing arches,” Rakturan said. He lifted her up, clutching her close to his chest as he stood. She looked small in his arms. And what were healing arches?
Magical healing. They’re a magical place of healing. Don’t ask me how it works, only that strange things happen. It amplifies some things and minimizes others. Supposedly, they eat magic and dispel magical ailments.
How did Raolcan know everything?
I’m a lot older than you and I listen. Besides, I’m good at everything, even eating Magikas.
He was kidding, wasn’t he? He wouldn’t actually eat them.
You don’t need to worry about them anymore. We finished them just before your prince arrived. He brought other problems with him, though.
“We’re under orders to bring her to Dominion City.” Hubric’s stance changed slightly, like he was preparing to fight once again.
“In Baojang we have healing arches. I could arrive there in a week at most and then she could be healed.” Rakturan’s expression was hard as a stone.
“A week? It would take us longer to get to the border of Baojang by dragon! How do you...” Hubric’s voice faded off.
He came on a dragon.
“You came here on a dragon?” Hubric clenched his fist, his face flushing as he spun and stormed out the barn door. Had Rakturan stolen a dragon?
Rakturan carried Savette over to a stack of loose hay on the corner of the barn and laid her down, taking off his rain-soaked cloak and laying it over her.
“Don’t do that,” I said. “You’ll give her a chill. Here.” I limped over to our own cloaks where they were drying by the fire. The ones closest to the flames were dry. I gathered one up and brought it to him. “Use this.”
He frowned, but he placed the dry cloak over her instead. He reached for the blindfold over her eyes.
“She likes it there,” I said.
His hand hovered over it, as if uncertain whether to believe me or overrule me. Before he could decide, Hubric arrived with another bang of the door. I clenched my jaw. Seriously? Could no one open or close that door without pulling the whole barn down behind them?
“You brought Enkenay?” he boomed.
Enkenay? Wasn’t that Dashira’s dragon? The white one that Aldeen rode?
Yes. What he does is wrong.
Why would she let him ride her?
Baojang has tricks we did not know about.
But you couldn’t just steal a dragon. It didn’t work that way.
“I did what I needed to do,” Rakturan said. “She needs protection and it’s clear that the two of you aren’t up for the job. If I hadn’t arrived, you’d both be dead.”
“Our pact is clear.” Hubric’s words were hard as flint and he spat each one out like he could dent Rakturan with them. “A dragon must bear one rider. One! When his rider dies he dies, too. When a dragon’s rider dies, we release him to die in peace. It’s wrong to ensnare him again!”
I hobbled to the door and peeked out into the driving rain. Raolcan and Kyrowat stood with their backs to me, as if they were guarding the barn. In the rain before them, a white dragon crouched. He was larger than the other two, but his wings were ragged, and he was painfully thin, sores like the black bubbles that infected Leng after Magika Hectorus’ attack spotted his white hide. I gasped and stepped back, letting the door bang closed.
“It’s wrong to let him rot beneath you as you enslave him for your own goals.” Hubric looked like he might explode. “We have a pact with them.”
“I don’t,” Rakturan said, “and your pact is terrible. There is no reason for that animal to die.”
“They aren’t animals,” I said at the same time that Hubric spoke.
“He’s already dying! Can’t you use your eyes!”
“He needs the healing arches. Just like she does,” Rakturan said.
Hubric drew himself up as if he was going to reply but instead he snorted. “Help me clear these bodies, Amel. We’ll decide what to do with the Dark Prince after that.”
“Decide what to do with me?” Rakturan laughed as we made our way to the first body.
Hubric searched the pockets, pulling out a map, a flint, and a few coins. He opened the map and saw our course plotted out along it. These people had followed us from the beginning. A few of the towns along the way were marked with the spiral with a line through it th
at I’d seen before.
“Dusk Covenant,” Hubric said to me, pointing to the spiral. “Their motto is ‘a way through chaos.’ The spiral is the chaos, the line the way through.” I nodded and he turned to Rakturan. “The girl stays with us, prince. So, yes, if you want to be near her, then it is for us to decide what to do with her.”
Hubric pocketed the things he found and motioned to me to search the others.
“It’s better if she comes with me now,” Rakturan argued. “Only Baojang can save her. We can offer her the healing arches. What can you do? Watch it wear her away to nothing but an echo?”
“Why do you care, Baojang?” Hubric asked. “You barely know this girl.”
I searched through the pockets of the woman I’d knocked out. She moaned and Hubric rushed over to bind her hands. She had nothing of significance in her possession except a medallion bearing the Dusk Covenant mark.
“In our lands, the prophesies say:
‘Offered then denied,
Bride of Morning,
Dark’s only hope of peace.
A deal with death he strikes,
And from his mouth springs truth
To save the morning light.’
I’m certain it means she is the key to peace.”
“We have our own prophecies,” Hubric grunted.
“And do they say things about Savette Leedris?” Rakturan asked, folding his arms over his chest.
I searched the tattooed woman as Hubric finished with her hands. She had a handful of small things, but nothing that seemed to matter to our purposes except for a letter.
“Perhaps.”
“Than you know that we must bring her to the arches,” Rakturan said, triumphantly.
“We have our own arches, prince. You are not the only nation with culture and power.” Hubric lashed the last living enemy and grabbed the feet of the huge man Rakturan beheaded, dragging him toward the door. He was surprisingly strong for someone so old. Rakturan joined him, grabbing the other leg to pull him outside.
Dragon School_Dusk Covenant Page 4