by Martha Carr
“I don’t need cream or potions or anything. Only the pollen out of my eyes.”
You don’t fool me, William Moss. You got a little emotional. Raven pressed her lips together to hide a smile and gazed at the mother dragon dancing with her child.
William turned toward her with a self-conscious smile and nodded at the dragons. “This was worth it, though—to see it again. I think I was seven the last time I saw it.”
“The meaning of stuff sure changes when you’re older, doesn’t it?”
He chuckled and nodded quickly. “You can say that again.”
A few minutes later and after what had to have been half an hour of nonstop flying across the dragon enclosure, Leander settled onto the dirt with another snort. His huge head shook vigorously and his wings rippled before he tucked them against his back again. The smaller red landed in the same way and her back came only to the tops of his muscular shoulders. Both dragons walked side by side toward the fence and the gate, their scaly hides occasionally brushing up against each other.
Raven watched them for a moment, then looked at William. “They’re not…done, are they?”
“With the dancing part, yeah.” He nodded and scratched the side of his face, his expression thoughtful. “It looks to me like they want something else. Judging by the way they’re looking at us, Raven, I think the safe guess is they want you over there.”
“What? Why me? I didn’t—”
“Dragon rider!” Leander shouted and his voice cracked across the open ground of Moss Ranch. “Come.”
William burst into a fit of laughter and smacked his hands on his thighs. “Your familiar calls, war mage.”
“Stop. That isn’t—” Despite her protest, she laughed anyway. “That’s not funny.”
“It’s very funny. He’s more focused on ordering you around right now instead of defying anyone else’s orders. A dragon in his natural state.”
“I don’t order him around.” She couldn’t wipe the smirk off her lips. “Not anymore.”
“Go on. You don’t want to keep two red dragons waiting on you, Raven. It might be an unforgivable offense.”
“Well, at least he’s not waiting for me to show up. Or feed him.”
He snorted and she slapped his arm with the back of her hand before she strode toward the fence.
By the time she reached the dragons, she was a little out of breath and squinted against the glare of the sunlight on their fiery-red scales. Leander’s mother had taken a few paces back and now stood a half-dozen yards behind the much larger red. Despite the distance, she watched the young mage closely as she approached.
“Leander, that was incredible.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that. I’m so glad you—”
“Raven Alby.” He inclined his head and fixed her with his yellow, highly intelligent eyes. “Stop talking. Step through the gate.”
“What?”
“I want you in here with us.”
Puffing her cheeks out, Raven looked at William. If he’d heard that, he’d be running over here right now to stop it. “Are you sure?”
“Did I confuse my words?”
A surprised laugh burst out of her, and she shook her head. “No, you most definitely didn’t. Okay. I’ll come in.”
She released the latch and opened the gate wide enough to slip inside quickly before she closed it again.
William clapped his hat tighter on his head and lurched forward. “What is she doing? Raven? Raven! What are you—”
“It’s fine! I’m fine.” She waved him off and turned to face her dragon familiar and his mother.
Shaking his head, William took a few halting steps forward. No, Leander will have to deal with me being a little closer. This girl’s gonna make me have a heart attack and I’m not even that much older than her. He gritted his teeth and decreased the distance between him and the fence by half before he stopped. “Just…call if you need help—”
“I’m good.” Raven nodded firmly and stared into Leander’s yellow eyes. “We’re good.”
“I know. Come with me.” With a snort, the huge red dragon turned away from her and lumbered toward his mother.
The smaller female watched them with an almost human-like curiosity and the scaled ridges over her yellow eyes raised as the girl approached. “This is the one.”
Leander snorted but didn’t say anything.
She stopped a few yards from the older dragon. It’s about respect and I’m literally in her house right now. She lowered her head and tried to emulate the way she’d seen Headmaster Flynn do it, then stuck one foot out to keep herself from stumbling forward. The whole time, she held the female dragon’s gaze. “It’s very nice to meet you, um…”
A low rumble rose in the female’s throat, although it wasn’t nearly as intimidating as Leander’s. And I’m used to that already.
“They named me Zora, young mage. You may call me the same.”
“Zora. It is very nice to meet you.”
“You are my son’s mage, yes?”
Raven nodded again. “And he’s my familiar. We kind of lumped it all together when he passed the dragon trials.”
“Yes.” Zora glanced briefly at Leander, who stepped closer to Raven and lowered his head.
William tugged on the collar of his work shirt, then wiped a beat of sweat from beneath the brim of his hat. If I didn’t know Raven, I’d say two dragons staring at a mage in training is the wrong combination. Please don’t let me be wrong about that too.
“My son has given me your name,” the female continued and raised her head again to study the young witch from a different angle. “Raven Alby.”
“That’s me.” She grinned.
“Hmm.” Zora’s wings twitched outward before she took a step toward her and sniffed the air. There were still a few feet between them, but she felt the dragon’s warm breath on her anyway. “You look very much like your mother, Raven Alby.”
She froze. Did I hear that right? “You knew my mom?”
Zora’s eyes closed and opened again slowly. “We met once or twice. A fine thing it is to uphold Sarah Alby’s legacy.”
A dragon couldn’t make this up, right? Raven’s fingers brushed against her mother’s pin on the collar of her jacket and she nodded. “I’m doing what I can—and making my own destiny along the way.”
“With my son. His dragon rider. Hmm.”
The conversation stopped there, and she tugged the bottom of her jacket down, mainly for something to do with her hands. Grandpa won’t talk much about Mom, even if he wasn’t gone. Zora might.
Another low rumble issued from Leander’s throat, and he bumped the side of his head against her shoulder. With a chuckle, she stroked his muzzle. Within seconds, her cheeks ached from how much she’d smiled this afternoon. I’ll come back and ask about Mom later. This is Leander’s moment.
“Thanks for letting me be a part of this,” she muttered to her familiar.
He wuffled a warm breath. “This is how I’m thanking you.”
“I’ll take it.” It surprised her when Leander turned away from his mother and headed toward the gate. Raven gave Zora another smile and a nod, then followed her familiar.
“Raven Alby.”
The mage in training glanced over her shoulder.
“Bring him again, if you can. Join us. I wouldn’t mind getting to know the dragon rider as well as the dragon.”
“I will. Thank you.”
“Hmm.” Without another word, Zora turned and stalked away across the dragon enclosure toward the other dragons who must have been part of her clan but didn’t want any part of her reunion.
No, this was a personal thing. One I’m a part of now.
When she and Leander reached the gate, William hadn’t moved any closer. His eyes were wide as he stared at Zora’s retreating figure and he hissed out a laugh. “I can’t believe it.”
She opened the gate and stepped out of the dragon enclosure, Leander on her hee
ls. “Which part?”
“Take your pick, Raven. Hell, all of it. Nothing about today has been normal around here. I shouldn’t be surprised at this point, but…wow.” He shook his head, folded his arms again, and grinned at her. “You keep surprising me.”
“I’m starting to think that runs in the family too.”
“Well, wherever you get it from, I’m happy to stand back and watch it.”
Raven bit her lip when she shot him a sideways glance. “Except for when I stepped into the enclosure.”
“Okay, maybe happy isn’t the exact word I’m going for. Not to describe every single moment, at least. But you handled yourself very well. So did you, Leander.”
The red dragon kept pace with his rider and walked so close to her, she could feel the warmth of his body and all the sun’s heat rising off his scales. “If I cared about your good opinion of me, flyboy, I might thank you for it.”
William laughed. “That’s about as good a compliment as I’m gonna get, isn’t it?”
“Hypothetically speaking.” A rhythmic hiss escaped Leander’s parted lips as he nudged her shoulder with the side of his head again. “Raven Alby deserves more than compliments.”
“I didn’t do anything.” She stroked the top of his scaly snout and nudged his head playfully in return. “No compliments necessary.”
“You can’t know the meaning of what you gave me today, mage. I am…” Something like a purr and a high-pitched whine escaped the large dragon. “I’m happy.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I can tell. Good. Being happy is a good thing.”
“When it happens, yes. Usually, that comes from food and sun and flying.”
“Well, you can add friendship to the list, Leander. That’s why we came here.”
“Indeed.” The dragon lowered his head as they walked to the barn and he snuck a glance past Raven toward William who walked on the other side of her. “I won’t say the trainer is my friend.”
William chuckled and shook his head.
“He’s my friend, though. So by association, it’s almost the same thing.”
Leander snorted. “If you’re trying to convince me, little girl, that one needs more work.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
When they took to the skies again after leaving Moss Ranch, Raven’s mind floated through the clouds with her. Going back to Fowler seems like so much work after the last few hours. And I still need to find something to bring to Bixby’s next class.
“Oh.” She leaned slightly to the side as she scanned the ranches that passed quickly below them. “Leander?”
“I know.” He dipped his wing and took them in a wide, sweeping curve slightly off course on their way back to the mage school.
She grinned and patted the scaly neck in front of the saddle. I don’t even have to ask. That’s in the top three best parts of riding a dragon familiar, for sure.
The air cooled significantly now that the sun had begun to set, but she hardly felt the cold beneath the exhilaration of flying. “It never gets old.”
The wind whipped her voice away from her, but she heard Leander hum in agreement anyway.
His huge shadow crossed over the gate off the road and the sign for Alby Ranch with the large embellished A branded into the wood. A few of the ranch hands looked up and shielded their eyes from the fading sun. Many of them forgot about their end-of-day work altogether and dropped rakes, hammers, and harvesters to watch the dragon glide low over the fields.
They landed on the far side of the ranch beyond Connor Alby’s house. Leander settled on the grass just inside the property fence and hunkered down so Raven could dismount.
“I’ll be back in only a few minutes, okay? I have to find something with meaning and magical significance.”
“I hear sarcasm.”
She laughed and headed toward the back of the cabin in which she no longer lived—for now. “I’ve always heard dragons have incredible hearing.”
Leander snorted and turned in a few tight circles before he shifted into a more comfortable position in the grass at the top of the rise to wait for her return.
When she reached the cabin and rounded the corner to the front door, she noticed Deacon and Patrick running toward her.
“Raven! I know you have your schooling and all that familiar business to focus on right now, girl. But…” Deacon paused and bent over to prop his hands on his thighs and catch his breath. “Girl, what the hell kind of craziness possessed you to bring a dragon onto a goat ranch?”
Trying not to laugh, she turned partially and pointed up the small hill at Leander. “Probably that crazy dragon lying there minding his own business.”
“Until he decides he’d rather mind a few dwarf goats,” Patrick added and wiped a sheen of sweat from his brow.
“Really? Come on. I wouldn’t have brought him here if I seriously thought he was dangerous. Do you know how much time I’ve spent taking care of those bleating boneheads?” Right on cue, a few goats uttered warbled cries from inside the pen. She laughed. “I would not throw that all away so Leander could have a little snack. And by the way, I’ve never seen him eat anything but dragon feed.”
“That don’t mean he won’t…” Patrick leaned sideways to peer around her and up the hill. “He might still.”
“No, he won’t. He ate maybe two hours ago. A lot.”
Deacon laughed weakly and nudged the nervous ranch hand beside him. “All right, man. Quit mean-muggin’ the dragon, huh? Have you ever known this girl to rush into something headfirst without knowing exactly what she’s doing?”
Patrick glanced at her again, his expression openly skeptical. “You’re not making a very good point, Deacon.”
“Aw, no. I mean something serious. Come on. Raven has a good head on her shoulders. And do you hear that?” He cupped his hand around his ear and leaned toward the goat pen.
“Hear what?”
“Exactly.” He slapped a hand on Ed Patrick’s back and chuckled. “If those jabbering dwarf goats aren’t making the tiniest noise with a dragon lying uphill and upwind, I’m gonna go with trusting Raven. If the goats aren’t worried, I’m not worried.”
Patrick stared at the other man for a few seconds, then turned slowly toward the goat pen to meet at least three pairs of wide eyes above three goat mouths that calmly and effortlessly chewed on the remains of the hay bale. “Well, the minute they start acting up—”
“We won’t be here that long. I’m only picking something up for school. I forgot to pack everything.” Raven turned toward the front door of Connor Alby’s cabin. It’s not technically a lie.
“All right, then. Ed, help me finish those last few slats on the barn roof, huh? We’ll get this thing knocked out and I won’t have to climb up this ladder again tomorrow.”
The door to the front porch creaked and banged shut behind her before she stepped into the house again. A shiver ran down her spine, and she rubbed her arms beneath the jacket and tried to fight the goosebumps. “I had no idea it could get this cold in here with no one inside and no fire to warm it.”
She scanned the few shelves along the walls of the living room. Meaningful and magical, huh? Her gaze fell on Connor’s old metal trunk against the wall in the corner. I already have their patches at school…no. There’s gotta be something better in here.
As she moved slowly through the cold house that was still her home—despite feeling emptier than she ever remembered it—she folded her arms and squinted. Her fingers brushed against her mom’s pin. Nope. I won’t risk damaging this. What can I use?
Once she’d cleared the living room, she walked down the hall and peered into her grandfather’s bedroom. Her gaze fell on the large, off-white skull Connor had placed on the shelf after the first time he’d shown it to her. “Now that fills all the requirements.”
With a grin, she almost skipped across the room to retrieve the huge, shadow-riddled skull of a Skiffling. “Not that Grandpa’s wildly into war trophies, but this would definitely
count as one. This was a Swarm general and that’s gonna score me serious points with Bixby. Meaning, magical significance, and history.”
With the skull balanced in one hand, she pointed at it with the other and muttered, “Adtenuo.”
The Swarm skull wobbled a little on her palm before it shrank quickly to the size of an apple. Raven grinned, tucked it into the outside pocket of her jacket, and gave it a little pat. Shrinking inanimate objects is easy. Too bad I didn’t have the time to find out how to do it right with the goats. It would’ve made herding them a heck of a lot easier.
With another glance around the cold living room, the empty hearth, and the emptier hallway, she sighed and headed to the door. Grandpa won’t be gone that long. We’ll both be back here soon enough.
When she stepped outside, the sun now cast glowing gold and orange light across the ranch before it sank behind the tallest mountain peaks. Deacon and Patrick still stood where she left them. “So you decided not to finish the roof, huh?”
“What? Oh. That, uh…” Deacon nodded up the hill behind the cabin. “Does that dragon of yours always do that?”
“Do what?” Raven turned to see Leander crouched over his forepaws, his back legs tucked beneath him and his wings spread halfway. The thick, powerful tail lashed from side to side, and he seemed to stare intently at the two ranch hands. She laughed and covered her mouth. “I think he’s messing with you.”
“He looks like one of those panthers getting ready to pounce on a big fat sheep.” Patrick licked his lips, his eyes wide and his gaze fixed on the dragon.
“I told you, he just ate.” She chuckled again. “And I’m sure he’s enjoying how confused you guys are right now.” At least, that’s what it feels like. It’s not something I’d find all that amusing on my own, is it?
“Well, I won’t turn my back on a dragon to climb onto a roof, that’s for damn sure.”
“Hey, in a few minutes, you can turn whichever way you want.” Raven raised a hand and gave the men a brief wave. “We’re heading back now.”
Patrick folded his arms and squinted even more intently at Leander.
Deacon shook his head at the man, then headed toward her and looked only a little wary to also be walking toward a dragon. “Hey, how’s that school treating you as a place to lay your head, girl?”