Dragon God (The First Dragon Rider Book 1)

by Ava Richardson

  The other students were variously either practicing their physical skills, martial training, or letters in the Great Hall, but there were more that were spread out around the monastery. Some in the stables, some finding solace in the Kitchen Gardens for their studies. It wasn’t so unusual for me to wander the corridors of the main building, looking through doorways and down corridors.

  This corridor led away from the Great Hall and was lined with wooden doors, all closed. The first few I had stood by, waiting with bated breath until I was sure that no one was coming, before taking out my small knife and trying to lift the hinge mechanism or pick the lock. So far, I had managed to open two – and both leading to stores of incense, barrels of wine, and musty tapestries. Who knows what information father can use? I thought as I pocketed a small cloth packet of incense, in case it had some special properties essential for magic, though after the second corridor of storerooms, I started to regret my decision to take the incense. I was beginning to smell distinctly floral.

  I stopped at a T junction in the hallways, with steps leading up on my left, or down on my right. Where do you keep secrets? I thought. Down. That was when I heard the first set of steps as the first shape was hurrying towards me from the gloom below.

  It had been one of the Draconis Monks, a smaller fellow with dark, quick eyes who had looked up at me in alarm, but had then said nothing, and walked past. After that close call, I carried on, but the next set of footsteps was following down from behind and above me, and I froze.

  “You there. Student?” said an imperious voice, and I turned around to see a very round, very large monk with a red beard glowering down on me.

  “Yuh-yes, sir?” I said. Dammit!

  “Students aren’t normally allowed down here. Have you got written permission?” he said.

  I opened my mouth about to lie that I had but I might have lost it – but the monk was too wily for me. He could see that whatever I was up to, I had no bit of paper as he clicked his fingers and shook his head.

  “No, no, no. This won’t do at all. The Galleries are restricted, and I don’t care where you left the permission or forgotten it, or it got eaten by a dragon or something. Off you go, student, and don’t be so nosy next time – or I’ll report you myself to Quartermaster Greer!” the red-bearded monk huffed, jerking a thumb over his shoulder and leaving me in no uncertainty as to what I had to do.

  Drat. I tried to smile, but my gritted teeth wouldn’t let me, as I returned the way I had come.

  Well, I know a little bit more about where the Library isn’t, I thought glumly, as I made my way back up to the main area of the monastery.

  “You might have had the morning off, little masters, but that doesn’t mean for a second that I’m going to go easy on you!” Quartermaster Greer yelled, in what was becoming quite a predictable routine. He had us standing in the cavernous and frigid Great Hall, where, inexplicably, the many hearths were never lit. At one end of the hall beneath a large stone dragon’s head were carved statues of people I had never heard of. The sculptures looked so life-like that they appeared almost to move if I looked at them from the corner of my eye. The Quartermaster stood at the end of the hall in his traditional black robes and with his little black book, as he organized us all according to gender.

  “Now, girls can go sit down at the back of the room,” Greer announced, which made me feel all the more uneasy. Although my elder brothers Rik and Rubin were cruel, arrogant and oafish in their own way – even they never thought of jobs as belonging to men or women. A job was for whomever was capable of completing the task. ‘It’s not about whether you wear skirts or trousers,’ my father had always said. ‘It’s about skills and wits.’ He had been talking about fighting and soldiering of course, but he had also applied the same logic to the advisers he listened to, or to ruling a kingdom. I had grown up learning to look at the whole population as possible allies or possible enemies, and learning not to base my assumptions on the gender someone was. My trepidation only increased when, Greer finished his thought—“because we know that it’s the boys who will be protectors.”

  What? I couldn’t believe that Greer had said that. I looked around in confusion at those around me, to see Char, Sigrid, and the other girls grumbling and shaking their heads at the slight. There were a few muffled giggles from some of the boys, and I glared in their direction to see that it was Terrence (of course) and his cohort.

  “This is crazy,” muttered one of the girls as she barged past me. She was older and taller than me, and had skin as dark as onyx, and I recognized her as from one of the Raider families of the southern lands, infamous for those among them who had taken to a life of pirating on fast-traveling boats along the coasts of Prince Griffith’s lands. To me, the girl looked lean and toned, with hair that was braided and pulled back into a tight topknot. I wouldn’t want to fight her, I thought, as there was a clatter at the front of the room, as the Quartermaster brought forth woven crates full of what looked like leather clothes.

  “These will stop you from killing yourselves,” Greer said sadly (I reckon that he would have rather that we did hurt ourselves and be forced to go home). “A hat and gloves.” He displayed the items disinterestedly, before throwing them to the nearest boy. “Put them on, and we will spar in pairs. Two pairs at a time, and the rest of you go sit down at the other side of the hall.”

  I was glad when Terrence Aldo was chosen, along with two of his fellow second-sons and distant cousins, to be one of the first pairs of fighters. They took a moment to congratulate each other ahead of the fight as they put their leather caps and mitts on, all apart from one boy with hair that was shorn short so that he looked near bald, or ill. His bare head made him look vulnerable and his eyes even bigger and grey than they really were.

  “Who’s that?” I whispered to Dorf beside me. He had been here a few days more than me, and so already had the chance to get to know who most of the other students were.

  “That’s Maxal Ganna,” Dorf whispered with a meaningful stare.

  “What does that mean?” I shrugged, watching as the smaller boy was the last to collect his things.

  “Son of Ganna Draconis? One of the greatest Draconis Monks of our age?” Dorf shook his head as he tried not to laugh. “Really, Neill – what do they do out there in the Eastern Marches all day? Didn’t your father teach you anything?”

  I wanted to say that my father had taught his sons how to ride a horse and to swim and to plan a war, but before I could point this out, Greer slapped his short wooden cane against a stone table, signaling the bouts to begin.

  Terrence Aldo was matched against Faris, one of the other southern kids. Even though Faris was clearly the larger, he went down in the first few seconds, clutching at his shins as if Terrence had broken them. We watched several more battles in which Terrence came out ahead every time, yelling “Submit! Submit!” and earning snorts of derision from the dark-skinned Raider’s girl opposite us.

  “Next pairs! Come on, get moving Lesser – or are you too afraid?” Greer shouted at our bench. Even the words that fell on Dorf’s shoulders made him hunch, and I promised myself to try and go at least a little easier on him as we collected our leather caps and gloves.

  “Okay, Torvald, prepare to face Lesser wrath,” Dorf said jokingly, although I could see the whites of his eyes as he eyed my fists warily.

  “Just concentrate. Try to hit me,” I whispered at him, even lowering my guard as Greer slapped his little cane.

  Dorf swung wide, his fist nowhere near enough to connect with me. It was too ridiculously easy to dodge his wild attacks after I had brawled with my own brothers and the soldiers of their guard for years. Guards with fur wrappings and leather straps, my brain supplied, triggered off by the similarity of what I was doing now.

  Those bandits that had attacked me. They had worn the clothes of Torvald soldiers, I thought, as Dorf managed to shove me backwards in my distraction. Seeing Dorf in action though, it seemed clear to me that there
was no chance that either he or the Lessers had been the ones responsible. Dorf couldn’t lie if his life depended on it, and, if the rest of the Lessers were anything like Dorf – then they couldn’t fight at all!

  My instincts kicked in, as I sidestepped and allowed his weight to carry him past me, as I lashed out with a foot, sending him tripping over to a loud thump on the floor. This was too easy. Too embarrassingly easy, really. There’s no honor in winning a fight against a weakling (another of my father’s great battle mottos; not that my brothers seemed to care about how much smaller I was than they as they had kicked me around the practice fields). This time Greer did not clap me, but merely gestured for me to join the victors’ table and take up a cup of the honey mead, saying, “Well, if you can’t even bring yourself to hit him when he was standing there as gormless as a statue, Lesser, then you are clearly no Protector.”

  “Sorry.” I tried to whisper to Dorf, who was pushing himself up and shrugging like it was no big deal. I felt bad about beating him, even though it was in both our best interests if he ended up a Mage. And, unlike Terrence, I didn’t have to mop the floor with my opponent just to prove my own skill as a warrior. Still, when I got to the table, I couldn’t help but be pleased Terrence and Archibald were eyeing me up warily. Good, I thought as I leveled my gaze at them. Now they know I can’t be bullied. After a long moment, they both nodded, and a surge of pride went through me, mixed with something like relief. We were all a part of something now, whether I wanted to be included in his group or not.

  A few more joined our ranks from the other students, but of the last bout, there was no clear winner as the boys ended up rolling around on the floor, panting in exertion as they tried to overpower each other. The bout was only stopped by Greer with a sigh.

  “I’ve seen enough. If neither of you can clearly win a fistfight, then I doubt that you can defend the walls of this sacred place!” he said, turning to us ‘victors.’ “So, five of you altogether, is there? Well, I think that is probably as good as we can expect. You will all be put forward to train as Protectors, unless any of you test exceptionally well in the other tests…” Greer spoke to us, and I could see that he had little interest in what was happening behind him, as the dark-skinned Lila Lanna stood up and calmly walked across the floor towards us.

  “Quartermaster?” she said, her voice solid and unafraid. “I’ve been fighting since I was eleven years old, on the decks of my father’s ships. I want the chance to become a Protector.” She stuck her chin out defiantly.

  Greer turned on his heel. “What do you think you’re doing, Lanna? Who told you to get out of your seat? How dare you go against my orders?” The Quartermaster took a step forward and raised his short cane and I thought for a terrible moment that he was going to strike her. I stepped forward.

  “I’ll fight you, Lila,” I offered. “I’m no great warrior, but if you can match me then it’ll show you’re just as good as any of us would-be Protectors, right?” It was what my father would do, I thought, before instantly realizing that wasn’t why I was putting myself forward. It wasn’t because of my father it was because this was the right thing to do. There was no reason that Lila didn’t deserve to at least test to be a Protector – no reason at all save blind prejudice-- and if the Draconis Order was serious about protecting the dragons, then they would do better by having the best warriors—male and female--out there on watch. From what I’d seen of Lila practicing, I knew she was far more skilled than many others I saw around me.

  Greer scowled at me and Lila both. “I should have known you two would be insubordinate. The Raider and the Gypsy.” But he consented with a nod, before sniffing the air delicately. “All I can say, is that at least one of the pair of you has been bathing recently.” I realized he must be talking about the packet of incense that I had been carrying, and had left a lingering smell of flowers in my breeches. Without another comment, he escorted us to the equipment box where he watched us put on our leather defenses. As we turned to walk to the center of the room, I could hear him mutter in a low whisper, loud enough only for us two to hear. “Not even any Three Kingdom blood between them!”

  It made my steps falter with rage, but I noticed that Lila didn’t bat an eyelid at this sort of treatment. Instead, she took a wide-legged stance, crouched, and grinned at me fiercely. “You’re not going to win, Gypsy-boy,” she hissed.

  What has everyone got against me? I thought, thinking that maybe my father had been right. I couldn’t trust anyone. It was just us Torvalds together against the world.

  Even though it wasn’t, was it, that treacherous part of me thought. Those bandits that had almost killed me had been Torvald soldiers, hadn’t they? Someone had sent them after me because I was who I was, son of a warlord, half-Gypsy.

  Slap! Greer brought the cane down, and already the girl was moving, spinning on her heel to turn in a pirouette and bring a backhanded fist straight towards my face.

  Oh crap. She really is quick, I thought in alarm, stepping forward with both hands to block the blow, before lashing out with a foot at where hers should be – but she sprang back out the way, panting and grinning.

  “You’re quick,” she congratulated me. “For a boy.”

  Oh no. I felt a moment’s panic. What if she does beat me? I’d come to the monastery knowing this was likely my last chance to prove myself useful to my brothers. What good would it be if they could forever say I was only “second best Protector” after Lila? I had to be the best, I reminded myself. Not only did I have a reputation as a Son of Torvald (the smallest son, but son nonetheless) but being the best Protector was my way to get the trainers and the monastery thinking favorably about me. My searches for information were going appallingly, and so the only skill that I could use to get some advantage had to be my skill at arms.

  And Terrence and Archibald? Did I care what they thought? I hated everything those two seemed to stand for, and yet… I couldn’t deny that I hadn’t liked that nod of respect they’d given me. I wasn’t ready to lose that. At that she leapt forward, one foot lashing up into the air in a maneuver I had never seen before, reaching head height and would have taken my head off had I not dived to one side, rolled, and bounced up again from the floor. She was on me already, and I managed to jab out twice at her, fighting for real, not pulling my blows like I had with Dorf. She grunted in pain as one of my punches connected.

  In return, she jumped forward, delivering a knee to my chest that winded me and doubled me over, and then a kick to my backside that sprawled me onto the floor.

  “Oof!” I gasped, waving a hand. “Submit?” I said weakly, and Greer gave a slow clap to Lila Lanna.

  “Congratulations, Raider.” He chose his words with bile. “Although just how well you do in the tests to come up against some honest Three Kingdom boys we will just have to see.”

  I could have growled at the man, I felt so hurt and shamed by his insults. But I bit my tongue and nodded at Lila. I have to remember what I’m here to do. If I go picking fights with the instructors all the time, I’ll never get to the bottom of the Order.

  For all of his sarcasm and sneers, the Quartermaster still allowed Lila to walk up to our victors table (me, limping behind) and I watched as she took the last cup of honey mead, and downed the lot in one gulp.

  “What about us?” I heard another voice say from the girl’s side of the room. It was Char, standing up and frowning, joined by none other than our ally and fellow Warden’s kid, Sigrid.

  “Enough.” Greer clapped his hands to silence us. “Enough insubordination for one day. There are other tests to take, and there is lunch to help prepare and general to perform.” There was a collected groan from us students, and the Quartermaster smacked the table with the cane with every sentence, but Char and Sigrid wouldn’t sit down. I thought Greer was going to explode with fury, as he waved his little black book above our heads. “No time for any more tryouts for the Protector training – you have lunch, and tomorrow there will be Scribe and M
age testing. If any of you girls do so terribly at those that you cannot be anything else, then I may consider letting you try again to be a Protector.”

  “Outrageous,” I heard Char say, folding her arms over her chest, and a couple of the other girls followed suit, but the Quartermaster wouldn’t listen as he pointed the way to the kitchens.

  “Well done,” I said to Lila as we filed out of the hall. I was still bruised from her attacks.

  “I don’t need your congratulations or your help, Gypsy.” Lila said brusquely, leaving me feeling stupid and clumsy. What had I said? Instead, I let the group pass me by as I sought out Dorf. I couldn’t see him and the awful thought occurred to me that maybe he was avoiding me, or worse yet, resented me for winning the bout against him.

  It seems that I can’t do anything without getting it wrong and upsetting someone, I thought miserably, as I followed the others behind.

  “Cheer up, Torvald,” said a voice, and I turned to see that Char had fallen to the back of the queue ahead of me. “You’re only a half-Gypsy. At least you could be a half-Wildman girl in a monastery that hates women and Wildman.”

  At that, she turned as soon as we left the hall and went the opposite way, not towards the kitchens but towards the storerooms instead, and I had the sensation that she too, had just scolded me.

  Why was it every time I tried to be nice to someone, they threw it back in my face? I thought miserably. Somehow, after seeing the dragons, I had felt a glimmer of hope that here at the monastery could be different. That I could easily ace the Protector test and thus get actually closer to the dragons themselves. That maybe, after the tests all the instructors and students would regard me as one of them. And once I truly belonged, surely I could find out more about the Order, maybe even enlist others to help me, like Dorf surely could, if he became a Mage. And that Char girl – she said she was a Scribe. She could help me get access to the Library which I was being so terrible at locating. Now, though, it seemed there was a whole lot more to making friends than just saying the right things.