The dragon reached out with its front claws and teeth, snatching one of the beasts and dropping to the ground with a heavy thump.
The rest of the shufflos stampeded away, still bellowing while the dragon jerked its head over its prize, beginning to feed.
Will stopped walking and leaned against the stone wall bordering the field, fascinated.
The blue dragon kept its wings splayed as it ate, shielding its prey from view. Will could see just enough to know that an eating dragon was a messy, primal thing. It ripped off huge chunks of meat with sharp teeth and swallowed them whole, licking its beak clean in between bites.
When there was nothing left of the shufflo but a patch of pink grass and leftover wool, the blue dragon licked its front talons daintily, then turned and started walking toward the road.
“Huh?” Will pushed away from the wall and backed up a step. Was the dragon coming after him now? Did dragons eat people too?
The blue dragon shuffled its wings and its yellow eyes focused on a portion of the wall to Will’s left.
Will looked and, for the first time, noticed a young, dark-skinned man leaning against the stones close to where he was standing. He had his arms folded over his chest and one foot resting against the wall behind him.
“Fascinating to watch, isn’t it?” the man asked.
“I . . . um . . . yeah?” Will said. He kicked himself mentally. The first time he meets a dragon rider, and he sounds like he left his brain back at Elder Madoc’s farm. Was this a dragon rider? He was wearing leather pants and tall boots on a hot summer day and had a leather jacket draped over the wall next to him. A huge blue dragon was walking toward him, and he didn’t seem the least bit terrified. It made sense to assume that he was a rider.
“You don’t need to be frightened of Boreas,” the dragon rider said. “He won’t hurt you.”
“Boreas? Wow, that’s a cool name.” Will walked along the wall toward the man.
The rider aimed a curious expression at Will. “You speak with an unusual accent. What city do you come from?”
Without taking his eyes off the dragon, Will answered, “I just came from Aldlake, but I’m not from there. I’m an off-lander.”
This really seemed to get the rider’s attention. He pushed away from the wall and turned to study Will intensely. “An off-lander? How have I not heard of this? How long have you been in Avria? You must have been to see Master Bard Aven. Why hasn’t he sent word to our archivists?”
The dragon was standing directly over them now. Cool air seemed to drift off its hide, sending a shiver over Will’s hot skin.
“I . . . I mean my family—we haven’t been in Avria long, a couple of weeks at most. I met the master bard yesterday, to show him my dragon egg.” He reached back to pat the bag resting over his shoulders.
The dragon rider stared at him. “An egg holder as well? This encounter keeps getting more and more fascinating. But if you intend to reach the hatching ground in time for Hatching Day, you won’t thank me for holding you up.”
“Oh.” Will blinked and looked toward the mountains. “That’s right. The hatching ground is still far away.”
“Perhaps we could accompany you for a while on your journey? I have so many questions!”
Will turned to gaze up at the long smooth neck and wedge-shaped head standing over him. The dragon’s shining golden eyes regarded him brightly for a moment. Then they blinked and Will glimpsed clear inner eyelids. They reminded him of petting his neighbor’s sleepy cat, and in that moment, the dragon suddenly looked less like an enormous predator and more like a big friendly animal that might still be dangerous if not treated with respect.
“You’ll give me a ride?” he asked, turning to the young man, half hopeful and half trembling.
The dragon rider quirked an eyebrow at him. “That isn’t done. It is unlawful for dragons to carry egg holders to the hatching ground. But we would walk with you for a time.”
“Oh. Yeah, sure!”
So the young man and the blue dragon hopped over the wall and joined Will on the road. The dragon, Boreas, followed patiently behind with his blue wings tucked along his back, his tail swaying rhythmically. Cold air wafted from his skin, chilling the back of Will’s neck.
The rider, whose name was Perrin, asked Will questions about the off-lands with as much eagerness as the master bard had. He especially wanted to know about Will’s education, off-land geography, and history. He seemed impressed at the level of math Will was comfortable with and how much biology he understood, but was surprised at his apparent lack of practical chemistry.
“So you do chemistry as a dragon rider?” Will asked.
“We all must understand some chemistry, so we can care for our equipment and our dragons. Some blue riders delve into rigorous research, studying medicines and the causal functions that produce elemental attacks in dragons. Some of the more intelligent red dragon riders develop pyrotechnic displays for festivals.” His mouth quirked at the mention of intelligent red dragon riders, like he was telling a private joke.
Behind them, Boreas gave a short rumble, then suddenly reared back and leaped into the air.
Will whirled around in time to see the blue dragon’s wings sweep down, nearly scraping the ground as they thrust the dragon into the sky above.
The gust of wind and dust from the takeoff knocked Will back. He nearly stumbled, but Perrin grabbed his arm to steady him.
“Where is he going?” Will asked.
“Nowhere. Walking at such a slow pace is tiresome for him. He’ll circle above us while we talk. The thermals above the fields will carry him so he can relax while he waits.”
Boreas was still swiping his wings through the air, the muscles in his shoulders rippling and bunching as he lifted himself higher and higher. It didn’t look relaxing at all. Then he leveled off. Sunlight filtered through the great blue membranes of his wings while he floated in a lazy circle. Tiny movements of his wing fingers kept him level. His long tail streamed behind. He looked like an enormous blue eagle, effortlessly riding the wind.
Will suddenly remembered something the master bard had said. “Wait, you have a blue dragon! Is it true that blue dragons come from cold eggs?”
Perrin rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he kept pace at Will’s side. “I wouldn’t know from personal experience. Boreas didn’t come from my team’s egg, and I haven’t felt any others. But I have heard some blue riders mention that their eggs were cooler than the others.” He grinned. “They say the cooler the egg, the more powerful the ice breath. At least that’s the rumor. I haven’t seen any actual studies on the matter.”
Will shifted the bag on his shoulders, debating whether to say what he wanted to next. “Well . . . my egg is cold. Lots of people say it’s not even alive. I don’t want to think . . . do you think it could be a blue dragon inside?”
Perrin eyed the bag for a moment, then stopped walking. “May I see it?”
Will stopped too and lowered his bag to the ground. “Yeah. Sure.” He pulled open the top of the bag. The shining egg rested in a nest of clothes and a rolled-up blanket. Will gently lifted it out and presented it to Perrin. It felt slightly warmer under his touch. Instead of the ice-cold stone it had felt like when he’d first pulled it out of the freezing mud, it was more like a big jug of lukewarm water. It still didn’t feel warm enough to be alive. “What do you think?”
Perrin’s eyes opened wide. He dropped to one knee to gaze at Will’s egg, running a brown hand over his face before letting it rest over his mouth. Then he moved his head from side to side, studying the golden shell. Finally, he rested one hand against it.
“Well?” Will asked.
Perrin shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” He drew his hand back and stood straight again, rubbing his hands together, seemingly without thinking about it. “None of the eggs I’ve ever seen have had that coloration. Some have been more greenish, or orange, or yellow. But this . . .” He gestured to Will’s egg
. “This is something completely new to me.”
Will tried to hide his frown as he carefully tucked the egg back into his bag.
They continued together up the road in silence for a while.
“So, you think it’s not alive?” Will asked finally.
Perrin sighed. “I wouldn’t presume to know for certain. But if you’re asking for my opinion, I think it is likely that it will not hatch.”
Will stared at the road ahead as they continued on together, focusing on the path in front of his feet and the rhythm of walking, one step after another.
Then he suddenly remembered something else and felt like a complete jerk for not thinking of it the moment he met Perrin by the field.
“Hey, wait a minute! You’re a dragon rider!”
Perrin eyed him curiously.
“You could . . . could you help me?”
“I already told you we can’t take you—”
“No, no! Not to get to the hatching ground. I’ll do that on my own. But, when our boat sank, my uncle was lost at sea. We think he might have washed ashore somewhere on the coast like we did.” Will explained the situation with his parents working for Elder Madoc, trying to earn enough money to hire a dragon rider to help them, and getting nowhere.
Perrin listened, his face going grim as Will spoke. When Will was done, he was quiet for a long time. “That Elder Madoc ought to be dealt with. That is no way to treat off-landers stranded on our shores,” he finally said. “I’ll see what I can do. Avria has many miles of coastline. Searching all of them won’t be an easy task. Still . . . I’ll see what I can do.”
And just like that, something clicked inside Will’s chest, flooding him with a sense of relief. “Thank you! Thank you so much! We’ve been so worried—”
Perrin held up a hand. “I can’t promise you anything except that I’ll try. And even if I can organize a team to help you, it may take time to put it together.”
Will shook his head and half sobbed, half laughed. “It’s okay. I’m just glad someone’s finally helping us.”
Perrin glanced into the sky, where Boreas circled high above them. The sun glinted off his horns as he lowered his nose to look at them. Then he tucked his wings and dropped, streaking toward the ground like a blue arrow. At the last moment, his wings snapped open, bringing his rear legs down. He flapped twice, sweeping up swirling clouds of dust, and landed on the road ahead of them as light as a feather.
“Wow . . .” Will breathed.
“I’ll tell my colleagues in the Frozen Peaks about your family’s predicament. Then I’ll catch up with you at the hatching ground.”
“Yeah. That’s awesome!” Will was still admiring the enormous dragon, as big as a bus. The vast sails of his wings, still slightly unfurled, made him look even bigger.
Boreas lifted a foreleg for Perrin, and the dragon rider vaulted to his neck. He took a few moments to clip some leather straps from the dragon’s saddle to his belt. Then he tugged on a leather cap, tying it under his chin, and settled glass goggles over his eyes. With all his gear on, he looked like an open-air fighter pilot.
Perrin gave Will a quick salute. “Clear skies, friend!” Then his dragon reared back, spread his magnificent blue wings, and launched himself into the air.
As the dragon beat his wings, soaring over the fields to the mountains, Will ran along the road after them. He knew there was no way he could keep up, but he didn’t want to miss a single moment watching the graceful sweeping of the dragon’s wings, or the lithe movements of its tail, or the pure blue color of its hide in the sunlight.
More than ever, he wanted to become a dragon rider. He felt his heart would burst if he didn’t make it to the hatching ground on time. So what if his parents still wanted to go back home? If he had a dragon, maybe they could fly back over the ocean together. If not . . . well, it didn’t matter. They were here now.
Perrin said he’d help look for Will’s uncle, lifting a tremendous burden from Will’s mind. Now he was free to prove himself worthy of being a dragon rider. He just had to make it to the hatching ground on time.
Chapter Fourteen
Will finally made it to the first town on the way to the hatching ground shortly after midday. The sun beat down angrily on his head and shoulders as he trudged toward the clustered buildings, reminding him of the time he had to go in search of water when his family first arrived in Avria. This time he had plenty to drink in his waterskin, but the oppressive heat still made his head throb. He felt sick to his stomach. Sweat dripped down his forehead and stung his eyes.
His first thought when he entered the town was of finding a cool place to rest and eat.
A few dozen stone and wood buildings sat on a sloping hillside, mostly houses. A few of the larger buildings seemed to be barns, workshops, or stores.
Master Bard Aven had said villages would help egg holders like Will, but what was he supposed to do to get that help? Was he supposed to show his egg to some random person and ask for food and a bed? That didn’t seem right.
A handful of cormants stood tethered outside one of the larger buildings ahead. Lively music drifted out of the open doors. Will stepped closer to investigate and noticed a sign hanging over the door that read Mountain Shadow Inn.
He went up the steps and peeked inside. A large room crowded with people, tables, and chairs waited within. A group of musicians near the unlit fireplace played an assortment of instruments while a crowd of kids laughed and danced together. Adults stood clustered along the walls or sat around tables, drinking from mugs and talking merrily. The focus of the room seemed to be on one table in the center, where a group of boys stood around an oval-shaped basket. In that basket rested a dragon egg.
Children huddled around the table, ogling the egg, pointing and asking question after question of the proud boys who stood grinning behind it.
Will slowly wove his way through the noisy crowd, trying not to feel disheartened that this dragon egg looked normal, just like the girls’ egg in the bard hall. It was a smooth yellowish-orange color that glistened faintly in the lamplight.
“You’re so lucky!” a girl gushed. “I wish I could find a dragon egg! How did you do it?”
One of the boys puffed out his chest. “I guess we’re just lucky, that’s all.”
“Are you here to join the party?”
Will jumped and noticed a middle-aged woman carrying a tray of mugs next to him. “I . . . um . . . I don’t know if I’m invited. I’m just passing through town and was hoping to find a place to rest.”
“Well, with all the egg holders coming through, our rooms are full. But we might be able to help you out if you don’t mind sharing. You’re welcome to stay for the party, too. There’s plenty of food and drink and music to go around.” She gave him a warm smile and offered him a mug from her tray before heading deeper into the crowd.
Will sipped experimentally and found that it was some sort of cold tea that tasted like ginger and honey. It was slightly spicy, but refreshing too, and it instantly settled his upset stomach and cured his headache. He drank the rest in a single gulp, helped himself to more from the pitcher on the table, then found an empty seat in the corner where he could rest.
Will knew that he should find somewhere to sleep after pushing himself all night. He needed to get back on the road as soon as possible. But he didn’t want to leave the party. He watched the people and listened to their songs, fascinated. When there were words, they spoke of dragons defending the land against swarmers, of dragon eggs, of the journey up the mountain measuring the worth of egg holders, of the unbreakable bond between dragon and rider. As he listened, he remembered what Anri had said, that he didn’t deserve his egg because he didn’t appreciate what it meant to be a dragon rider.
A few seats away from Will, sitting hunched in a chair, an old man watched him curiously from the shadows.
Will smiled at him, hoping the man would either say something or look away.
“You’re not joining in the
party,” the man said.
Will shrugged. “Normally, I would, but I don’t know any of these people. The lady there—” he gestured to the woman who’d given him his drink “—said I could stay. But I don’t want to crash their party.”
The old man lifted his head. The motion put him more in the light, and Will noticed his wild gray hair. It reminded Will of pictures of Einstein. The old man’s eyes were red and shadowed with dark circles, like he’d been crying and hadn’t slept in weeks.
“You aren’t joining in the party either,” Will noted with a frown.
“Me? No . . . no, I don’t join parties. But I wouldn’t miss this, either.” His bloodshot eyes found the egg resting in a basket on the table. The sight seemed to draw him in. After looking at it for a few seconds, a flash of anguish clouded his features, and he dropped his head, grimacing and rubbing his eyes.
“Is something wrong?” Will asked.
The old man shook his head and took a deep breath. “Yes . . . no . . . always.” He licked his lips. Then he lifted his mug with a trembling hand and drank it down in a single swallow. He coughed once and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
Will leaned in, wondering if the old man was ill or if something horrible had happened. “Do you need something? A doctor, or . . .”
The gray-haired man ran his hand over his eyes, like he was wiping away a mental image, and shook his head. “No . . . no. I should go now. I shouldn’t even be here.” Another look of pain flitted across his features. Then, abruptly, he pushed away from the table.
Will stood in alarm, but the old man rushed to the exit, stumbling against the doorframe before leaving.
Will followed him with his eyes, frowning in concern and confusion.
A few of the people near his table also watched the man go, wearing expressions of resigned pity.
“Why did Ronard even come?” one of them asked. “Didn’t he know it would only upset him?”
“What’s the matter with him?” Will asked.
Secret of the Dragon Egg (Dragon Riders of Avria Book 1) Page 13