The Sorceress of Aspenwood Trilogy Pack

by Sam Ferguson

  Njar smiled and nodded knowingly. “Perhaps I can help for the first night. You may enjoy his company for now, but I would warn against forming a deep bond with him.”

  “But you said his energy was clear.”

  The satyr nodded again and sighed. “For now,” he clarified. “But there is no way for me to know how long that will last. His parents were already established adults before the curse came into the land. Even if he possesses their strength, he is not mature.”

  “Then help me keep him safe. We only need to protect him until he is able to fly. Then we will fly northward together. He will escape his curse, and I will escape mine.”

  The satyr chief began to shake his head, but his expression softened when he locked eyes with Kyra and he gave in. His shoulders slumped and he looked to the ground and nodded slowly. “I will do what I can, for I still do not understand how it is you could reach into the past. Perhaps there is a chance.” He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “But if he turns, we will have no choice but to destroy him. You must remember that.”

  *****

  The next morning, before her studies began, Kyra used the portal to come back and visit Leatherback. She couldn’t wait until after classes had finished for the day. She found the young dragon curled up next to an aspen tree. It lifted its narrow head as she approached and turned to the side so its golden eye could focus on her. It was unlike any other animal she had ever encountered before. There were no expressions on its face, like perhaps with a dog, to show that it was happy at her approach. It neither wagged its tail nor rose to its feet. Still, she felt calm and excited at the same time as she moved toward it and stretched out her hand to pet its head.

  Leatherback closed his eyes as her hand stroked over the top of his head and down the first part of the back of his neck. Her fingers traced the lines in his skin that denoted where the scales would eventually form. Today she noticed that there were several small bumps along the top ridge of the dragon’s forehead. From the many books she had read, she knew that these would turn into horns of different sizes.

  Leatherback tilted his head back, exposing his throat to Kyra. She stroked it gently and then turned to sit next to the large creature. The young dragon made a sound somewhat like a large cat purring and then it snaked its neck around to lay its head in her lap.

  “I brought a book,” Kyra said, reaching into her bag to pull out the book that she had read several times over the last few months. “This is one of my favorites. I read it to you a long time ago, while you were still in the egg, but I think we should read it again now that you are hatched. Plus, I am much better at reading it fluently now.” Kyra flashed an open page at Leatherback, as though he would understand that the writing was in a language foreign to Kyra.

  “It’s about a dragon like you. He didn’t have a curse over him, like the satyr says you do, but there were others who tried to discount his abilities and prevent him from becoming all that he could be. They wanted to choose a lesser life for him, like many would do for you.”

  Leatherback lifted its head to sniff the pages, his nostrils flaring with each breath. He laid his head down and closed his eyes as Kyra began to read.

  “You will like this book, I promise.” She read the first two chapters of the book with the dragon laying his head in her lap and listening intently. She knew that she should go back to class, but she figured Cyrus could do without her for one day. After she finished the first two chapters, she closed the book and asked Leatherback if he was hungry.

  The dragon snapped his eyes open and pulled his head back, cocking it slightly to the side to look at her better. She asked again if he was hungry, but Leatherback just sat there motionless.

  “It will be some time before he can speak,” Njar’s voice called out from beyond the trees.

  Kyra turned, straining her eyes to find the satyr.

  “I didn’t know you were here,” she said.

  The black furred satyr stepped into the grove and smiled as he leaned upon his staff.

  “I never left. After you returned yesterday, I stayed to watch your little friend.” Njar swept his right hand out, gesturing toward the trees. “The aspens here seem to do a fine job of cleansing the energy. As of now there is no sign of the taint in the young hatchling, and I will work on finding ways to strengthen the grove to keep it that way as long as possible.”

  Kyra smiled and reached her arm out to embrace Leatherback’s neck.

  “That is wonderful,” she said softly.

  The satyr moved in closer to her. Leatherback stood on all fours and moved between Kyra and the satyr. He didn’t growl, but he stood firm with his eyes intently studying the satyr.

  “He has bonded with you,” Njar said. “He is already showing signs of protective behavior.”

  Kyra smiled proudly. “He is a gentle soul. Don’t hurt me and he won’t hurt you,” she said with a wide smile.

  Njar sniffled and wrinkled his nose as he looked down at the dragon. Then he looked back up to Kyra.

  “There is something else I wanted to discuss with you.”

  Kyra leaned forward and used her hands to help push up to her feet. She looked down and realized that Leatherback, even though it had only been one night, had already grown several inches taller than he had been yesterday. Now his back was level with her waist.

  “Do dragons normally grow this fast?”

  Njar shook his head. “Since he will be more susceptible to the curse the longer he is immature, I have added magic to the grove that will help him grow and mature at a much faster rate than normal. Hopefully this will strengthen him against the curse and give him as good of a chance to fight it as possible. There won’t be any adverse effects, but if we are wrong and he does fall victim to the curse, then it will make it harder to put him down.”

  “Stop saying that,” Kyra demanded. “He isn’t going to turn on anyone.”

  The satyr nodded, but she could tell from his expression that he was unconvinced. “The other thing I wish to discuss has to do with you.”

  “What about me?” Kyra looked at him and drew in her brows.

  “You have changed something,” Njar said. He sighed and looked to the ground before continuing. “Before I took you to the Pools of Fate, I was able to see much about your destiny. I couldn’t see everything, mind you, but I could see some of the larger events in your life. For instance, I knew you would find the egg, and I knew you would fight for his survival. Up until yesterday, I knew that if I showed you the fate that awaited him, you would allow me to do what needed to be done. In none of my previous visions had I ever suspected or seen any hint that any other outcome could be achieved so long as you saw the visions at the Pools of Fate. However, after you altered the past by reaching out to this dragon’s mother through the vision, all of that changed. While the dragon slept last night, I tried to revisit my visions about you. Kyra, I could see nothing. It was as if when you reached back into the past, you destroyed your future; like you simply do not exist in the grand design of fate anymore.”

  “I have never believed in fate,” Kyra said.

  The satyr held up a hand and nodded his head impatiently.

  “I don’t mean fate in the sense that everybody has a prescribed destiny that they must fulfill. Instead, I see fate as a grand design; a series of events that logically and predictably affect each other. Usually when I have visions, I can see what people will choose to do based upon certain knowledge. Sometimes, my visions show me forks in the path of destiny. Such was the case with you. There was a fork, where if I intervened I could save much suffering and protect the balance by killing the dragon. The other path from that fork would lead to destruction and sorrow were I not to interfere. So you can see, there was a choice for me to make, and not one prescribed way. This is how fate works for all of us. The problem is that now I can no longer see any path that lies before you.”

  “Most people cannot see the future,” Kyra replied. “I suppose I will have to make m
y own.”

  The satyr went silent and frowned. His eyes alternated between watching her and studying the dragon. She could tell there was something on his mind, but whatever it was, he wasn’t sharing it. The silence soon became unbearable and Kyra broke it with a different idea altogether.

  “Leatherback is hungry, how do I feed a dragon?”

  The satyr pointed to the book in her hands.

  “All this time studying dragons, and you have no idea how to feed one yet?” Njar asked with a wry smile.

  “I don’t exactly have an army of servants who can hunt elk and deer at will and then pile them up in front of him,” she snipped.

  Njar laughed softly and pointed to the far side of the glade.

  “Take him hunting.”

  “But you said only inside this grove is he safe from the curse. If I take him out, will he be in danger?”

  “Undoubtedly. However, no deer or other game animal is going to wander into this grove smelling of dragon as it does. You will have to take him out to hunt. I will follow you, and watch over the dragon.”

  Kyra nodded grimly. She knew that the satyr chief did not mean ‘watch over’ so much as ‘watch out’ for what he may do. She understood the very real possibility that the strange wizard would kill the dragon if he were to see any change in his energy.

  “What if I hunt for him, and then use the portal to carry food back, will that work?” Kyra asked.

  “The dragon must learn to hunt for himself, unless you plan on gathering enough food for it even after it is fully grown and requires several tons of food every day. Are you able to do that?”

  Kyra shook her head. She knew that she could not. She looked once more at Leatherback and his calm, trusting eyes. She thought about the promise she had made to Leatherback’s mother and then swept her eyes across the crowns of the aspen trees as they shuddered and whispered in the light breeze.

  “If the aspens help to cleanse and protect him, would it help if I carried one with us?” she asked Njar, stepping toward a sapling which stood a few feet taller than herself and placing her hand on it.

  The satyr stroked his beard thoughtfully as he glanced up and down the tree, then over to Leatherback, and back to Kyra.

  “It may be a worthwhile ward to carry. I do not know that it will have any significant influence against Nagar’s Blight, but a sorceress could find many worse places to take her first staff from – that is, as long as the aspenwood agrees.” Njar raised his own staff into the air and circled the glade once. For a moment the aspens stood quiet, and then suddenly, with no noticeable increase in the wind, all the aspens began to sway together, their leaves pattering against each other like a melodic voice whispering to her. Njar turned to her with a smile.

  “It seems the aspenwood agrees,” he said, gesturing to the sapling she had chosen.

  Kyra stooped to the base of the young tree and shot a bright bolt of lightning from her hand, severing the thin trunk in one blast. She tested the weight briefly, then showed it to Leatherback. He sniffed it once and purred. Then, with her hand on his head, she and the dragon left the glade and the satyr followed silently a short distance behind them.

  Kyra tried to think of how to show Leatherback what it was they were trying to do, but she needn’t have worried. A large, white snow squirrel ran across the ground in front of them. Leatherback caught sight of it and leapt through the air with such blinding speed and ferocity that Kyra stumbled back out of the way. So fast was the strike, that Kyra almost missed the impact when Leatherback used his tongue to pull the snow squirrel into his mouth. Two chomps and then a quick swallow and the snow squirrel was gone. Leatherback opened his mouth and looked eagerly from side to side. From that point, Kyra followed Leatherback as he used the scents upon the ground to track game. They spent the rest of the morning pursuing snow hares and other winter creatures.

  Leatherback must have eaten twenty small animals before he finally slowed his pace. Every time he took each animal whole, chewing only a couple of times before swallowing it. Kyra would have gone and watched Leatherback all day, but the satyr chief came up to her with a worried look on his face. Kyra prepared for the worst news, wondering how she could convince the satyr not to kill her friend.

  “You need to leave,” Njar said quickly. “I will take the dragon back to the grove. He is fine, but there is something that pursues you.”

  “Something?” Kyra looked around them and then back to the satyr chief. “What is it?”

  Njar shook his head. “It is something evil. Go, now!” Njar opened the portal for her and taking the aspen sapling from her hand, motioned for her to go. At the same time he opened a second portal that led back to the grove. He looked to Leatherback and pointed for the dragon to go inside.

  “Are you going to hurt him?” Kyra asked.

  Njar shook his head emphatically. “The dragon is fine, but I must protect you now. Go! You can come back later tonight.”

  Kyra looked to Leatherback and pointed toward the portal that led to the grove. The dragon leapt through the open portal. As soon as he was safe on the other side, Kyra went through hers and found herself back in her room. She turned around to look through the portal, catching only a glimpse of Njar as he jumped through the other portal to the grove. Both portals shut and she was left alone to wonder what it was that had spooked the satyr chief.

  She wasn’t left alone for long, as a knock rapped on her door loudly.

  “Kyra, you had better be extremely ill, for I do not take lightly to being stood up for hours on end.”

  Kyra’s eyes shot open wide, and goosebumps rippled across her forearms. Cyrus wasn’t exactly the most warm and tender person to begin with, and now that she had to face him while he was angered, she was rethinking how she had decided to spend her morning.

  The door opened and the thin wizard walked in, shaking a bony finger right at her face. “Just what is it you have been doing?”

  Kyra opened her mouth to speak, but Cyrus waved a hand and cut her off.

  “You had a report due today, did you forget?” Cyrus asked. “You were supposed to choose a creature, and present to me as much vital information about them as possible. Don’t you remember? I gave you this assignment shortly after I introduced you to the imp.”

  Kyra had to think fast. She had forgotten about the assignment until now, though at this moment she recalled precisely when it had been given to her. It was three days after she had battled the first imp. Cyrus had wanted her to expand her repertoire of knowledge so they could broaden her defensive skills.

  She did the only thing she could think to do. She pulled the now well-worn book out of her satchel and held it out toward Cyrus.

  “I have been reading about dragons,” she said.

  The expression on Cyrus’ face changed instantly from one of anger to a wide smile and incredulous eyes as he began laughing at her.

  “You are a talented apprentice, but I believe a dragon is a bit far out of your reach. Or is it that you are hoping to be assigned to a unit of dragon slayers, so that you can see your young friend again?”

  How could he know about Kathair? She stared at him blankly. Cyrus moved in close and took the book from her.

  “I wasn’t reading this to join the dragon slayers,” Kyra said.

  “I’m not concerned with your fantasies,” Cyrus said pointedly. “Your wedding is a matter strictly for your father and your fiancé to decide. I am concerned only with your level of focus and that has been wanting significantly of late. You have great potential. One day you may be more powerful than me, though I dare say that day is quite some time from now. All the same, it is a possibility, but it will be farther off still if you cannot focus on your studies.”

  “But I have been reading about dragons,” she insisted. In the moment she was so focused on getting out of trouble that she forgot to consider where this conversation might take her if she was not careful.

  “Why?”

  “Why?” Kyra echoed. S
uddenly she realized her mistake. The old wizard’s piercing eyes were staring directly into her soul and interrogating her silently, searching for the truth behind her motivation to read about dragons.

  “Why the fascination with dragons?” Cyrus pressed.

  Kyra thought quickly, and came to an answer that she was sure would pacify the old wizard.

  “My mother gave me the book, it is from my father’s library. It is one of the last books that she gave me.”

  Upon hearing those words, Cyrus changed from being a cold callous wizard to being a human being. He offered the book back to her.

  “I understand what it is to lose family,” he said sincerely. “Take the rest of the afternoon off. Take tomorrow as well. You’ve had some hard times of late, and I can respect that. When your head is clear, you will find me in the classroom.” Cyrus turned without another word and started for the door.

  The mention of her mother only served to dredge up all of her feelings that she had been bottling up inside since the news of her death had come.

  “Thank you,” she called out to the old wizard.

  Cyrus turned around and offered a sincere smile.

  “Of course.” He turned back for the door but Kyra stopped him.

  “The letter the headmaster gave me when my mother died, I read it.”

  Cyrus paused and glanced over his shoulder at her, waiting for her to finish what she wanted to say.

  Kyra stumbled through the next bit of information.

  “The letter said that my mother was murdered.”

  Cyrus nodded. “Yes child, she was,” he said softly.

  Kyra felt a lump rise in her throat, but she pressed on anyway.

  “Did they ever find out who it was that did it?”

  Cyrus sighed heavily and looked to the floor for a moment as he shook his head. He turned back and looked at her with those strong, fearsome eyes of his.

  “My dear child, it was not a who, but rather a what.”

  Kyra balked and took a step back. Suddenly she drew a connection between what the satyr had warned her away from just a few minutes earlier, and her mother’s death. She had seen some sort of strange creatures before leaving her home and coming to Kuldiga Academy. One of them had even chased her, and her mother had fought it. Was it possible that her family was being pursued by creatures unknown?