WarMage- Unrestrained

by Martha Carr

  Bella responded with a surprised grunt and tried to argue. “Raven has that spell. I barely even saw it—”

  Raven turned toward the girl and her belly clenched in anger. “You’re pulling out all the stops today, aren’t you? You gave me your word and now, you’re trying to throw me under the wagon so you don’t get in trouble. Which wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t broken your promise.”

  “I’m not the one who brought a Swarm skull to school—”

  “Enough!”

  Both girls turned quickly to look at Headmaster Flynn, who hadn’t moved, his fingers still pressed on the edge of his desk. The amusement that had constantly flickered behind his eyes was gone.

  “Let me assure you, Miss Alby and Miss Chase, this isn’t a game. What you two are dabbling in belongs to the history of Brighton, yes—the history of this kingdom, as well as your ancestry. And it spans so much more than that. Good war mages and dragon riders lost their lives in that war. Countless soldiers too. They gave their lives to defeat the Swarm, to reduce it to nothing more than so many skulls exactly like these.” He pointed to the huge, eyeless hunk of bone that almost covered his desk. “To play around with such things out of spite or a viable yet highly irritating rivalry is direct disrespect to those who made our freedom and our safety possible by forfeiting their own. I don’t want to hear any more talk about the Swarm or that particular spell. Especially now. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, Headmaster,” Bella muttered and chewed on the inside of her cheek.

  “Miss Alby?”

  “I didn’t mean to disrespect anyone.” Raven glanced at the skull again and shook her head. “I’m proud of that and the fact that my grandfather helped to destroy one of the swarm’s biggest creatures and brought that skull home after. It wasn’t supposed to be an insult.”

  “I understand, Miss Alby. Be that as it may, the majority of people are far less likely to fully realize your intentions with something like this. Now is simply not the right time to even attempt to enlighten them.”

  “What does that mean?” Bella stepped forward beside Raven now and shook her head. “What’s going on right now?”

  “Miss Chase, your attention and focus are much better placed on your studies—”

  “You’re talking about all the abandoned satellite ranches, aren’t you?” Bella glanced at Raven, widened her eyes a little, and fixed the headmaster with a steady gaze. “All the families picking up and moving inside the walls.”

  I can’t believe we’re having this conversation. But better now than never. Raven looked at Headmaster Flynn, who removed his hand slowly from the desk and raised his chin. “I know a few ranches outside Brighton that were destroyed or had missing dogs and livestock. The Alby Ranch lost one worker who simply disappeared, but I don’t buy that. Or the story about the other guy who got so drunk that he burned his cabin down himself.”

  The Headmaster of Fowler Academy frowned deeply and gave himself a few more long seconds to gather his thoughts. They are exactly like their mothers. Sarah Alby and Vanessa Chase wouldn’t have let me off the hook so easily, either. He cleared his throat. “This is what I can tell you. Something is definitely not quite right, as your familiar can attest, Miss Alby. Myself and a few others have suspected this much for a few months now, but nothing’s been confirmed.”

  “What do you think it is?” Bella asked. “Will there be another war?”

  “You’ve missed a few crucial steps along the way, Miss Chase. We don’t fully know what’s happening. But this is not something we take lightly, either. Until we discover what’s really in progress now—and Connor Alby left Brighton to do that—I don’t want either of you to breathe a word of this to anyone.” He folded his hands together and held them in front of his robes. “I need your assurances on this, girls. From both of you.”

  “Not a word,” Raven said quickly, nodded at him, and took a deep breath.

  Bella’s firedrake familiar fluttered off her shoulder and landed on the floor beside her, stretched his wings, and sniffed at something on the dusty, scuffed wood. “Not a word.” She looked at Raven and shrugged. “I’m sorry I said anything. It won’t happen again.”

  Woah. Her eyes widened at the unexpected apology, and her mouth opened before she could think of anything to say. “Okay.”

  “Excellent. That is how we keep this kingdom safe. Trusting each other, acknowledging our own mistakes, forgiving, and moving on.” Headmaster Flynn put a finger to his lips and squinted at them. “And keep important secret knowledge to ourselves, hmm?”

  The two girls nodded.

  “Thank you.” He pointed quickly at his office door, which opened all on its own. “I believe you both still have a full schedule of classes ahead of you for the day. I appreciate your time.”

  Bella moved quickly to the door and Raven almost followed her but stopped after a few steps. “Headmaster? I have one more question. About a…seal I’ve seen on different documents.”

  He glanced at his office door before he stepped around his desk and picked his reading glasses up again. “Is it a crucial question at this exact moment, Miss Alby?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “If it can wait until after the spring gala, please come and see me again at that time.” He lowered himself into his chair and nodded at her. “I appreciate the opportunity to have had this conversation with you both, but at the same time, I’m quite behind on my to-do list.”

  “Okay. I guess it can wait.”

  “Then I’ll expect another visit from you when classes resume next week.” He nodded and returned his attention to the parchment paper and quill on his desk.

  Raven glanced down the stairwell. Bella wasn’t exactly waiting for her and Wesley hopped down the winding stairs one at a time, but she wasn’t going as fast as she could have either. With Headmaster Flynn once again preoccupied with his important business, she stepped through the doorway and turned to close the door behind her. The curving stairwell fell into semi-darkness, although it took only a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the dim light.

  The other girl continued slowly down the stairs but turned partially to mutter, “I didn’t know your grandfather left.”

  “Well, Bella, you never asked.”

  “I thought he never left your family’s ranch.”

  “So did I.”

  Their footsteps echoed eerily as they always did, then Bella added, “Personally, I think it’s either the Swarm again or raiders.”

  “What?”

  “Why everyone’s leaving the satellite ranches and abandoning good work. I’ve seen many people go missing. It’s not like the start of the war, but the capitol’s starting to send warnings to the towns closest to the wall. So it’s more of the Swarm or raiders.”

  “That’s only a guess.” Raven shook her head. “There’s no real proof.” Except for the overturned sinkholes I saw when Leander and I were flying. And the lines of upturned dirt beyond the wall.

  “Well, if you have any better theories, let’s hear ʼem.”

  “I don’t have any better theories, Bella. I have the same theories.”

  The girl’s eyebrows raised when she glanced up the staircase again. A tiny smile flickered at the corner of her mouth. “I always knew you were smart but I might have underestimated you.”

  She chuckled. “I think the feeling’s mutual.”

  They reached the bottom of the staircase and the firedrake familiar fluttered onto Bella’s shoulder again before she darted her companion a quick glance. “Don’t let it go to your head, Raven.”

  With that, she hurried down the hall through the main building. Raven took a deep breath and continued in the same direction toward her next class, which they happened to have together too. That’s good advice. I hope she applies it to herself.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Raven walked across the field about fifteen minutes before her History of Magic class finished. She went directly to Leander’s pen, thoroughly looki
ng forward to a few minutes with him before their familiar training with Professor Worley began.

  The field and the barns, as far as she could tell, were empty. Wherever Bella went first, I’m really glad she didn’t show up here early too.

  The dragon snorted as she approached the gate. “What happened?”

  She shook her head and answered him through the walls as she pushed the sleeve of her jacket up to reveal the rune on her forearm. “I’m not sure, exactly. I’m a little…”

  “Confused.” The dragon wasn’t asking.

  “It comes off me that strongly, huh?” Her rune flashed orange, the gate did the same, and the deadbolt slid away from the wall to open the gate with a dull click.

  “It doesn’t matter how strong, Raven. I feel it all the same.”

  “Fair enough. I wish I knew how to explain what—”

  “Miss Alby,” Professor Worley called as he moved quickly toward her from around the far end of the stables. “Do you have a moment?”

  She glanced at the slightly open gate. “Yeah.”

  “Thank you.” He closed the stable doors and almost jogged down the long line of the building toward her. “Are the first classes letting out early today?”

  “Oh. No. Mine was interrupted.”

  “Nothing serious, I hope.” The giant bearded professor raised his eyebrows and chuckled.

  Raven tilted her head from side to side. “I guess that depends on who you ask.”

  “It always does.” He folded his arms, nodded, and glanced at the open gate. “This is good timing, though. It gives us a chance to go over a few guidelines before the class without being interrupted. Do you mind?”

  “No. Leander and I are totally ready for this.” She leaned toward the crack in the gate and added, “Aren’t we?”

  “I can neither confirm nor deny that statement.” A low rumble echoed from within the pen.

  Raven turned toward Professor Worley and wrinkled her nose. “He’s trying to be funny.”

  “And succeeding, as far as I’m concerned.” The man laughed and stepped away from the pen. “Leander, you’re welcome to join us for this conversation, if you like.”

  “Not particularly.” The dragon snorted at the open gate and blew a puff of hot breath, dirt, and a few blades of grass into the field.

  Raven held a finger up toward her professor in a gesture for him to wait. She stepped in front of the gate and opened it enough to stare directly into one of Leander’s large yellow eyes. “This’ll be good for us. Professor Worley knows what he’s doing as far as familiars are concerned.”

  “Not as far as dragons are concerned.”

  Worley laughed again. “You have a point there, Leander.”

  “Still.” She smiled and spread her arms. “The more you and I can learn about how to improve, the better, right? Unless you’d rather stay in your pen through the whole class and listen to everyone else working with their familiars.”

  Leander stepped away from the gate and stretched his wings. “That’s not why I came here.”

  “Oh, I know it’s not. Still, it’s your choice.”

  The dragon snorted again and stretched his neck to nudge the gate open with his snout.

  She grinned and stepped aside as the huge red dragon moved slowly and calmly out of his pen and into the open fields beside the stables and the barn. “Thanks, Leander. And hey, if we don’t learn anything useful today, we’ll keep training on our own.”

  “That’s quite the shoes to fill, Miss Alby.” Worley stood his ground as Leander walked toward him, although his eyes widened and he unfolded his arms. “But I’ll do what I can to offer something useful to you both. To the best of my ability, at least.”

  Leander stopped a few feet away from the man and stood perfectly still. “An ability that doesn’t include working with dragons.”

  “Well, not yet.” He nodded. “Ah, Miss Alby?”

  “Yeah?” Raven walked alongside Leander and trailed her hand along his scales.

  “Again, I’ve not had much experience, but don’t most dragons use a lead or some kind of rope…or something?”

  “Yep. Most dragons.” She laughed and patted her familiar’s muscular shoulder. “Not this one. That was one of the first deals we made and I don’t see us going back on it anytime soon. Will that be a problem?”

  “No, no.” Professor Worley stroked his dark, bushy beard and his smile widened. “I can see you two know what you’re doing as a mage and her familiar. I don’t like to make a habit of expecting problems before they exist.” Finally, he looked away from Leander’s yellow eyes and grinned at her. “If you trust your dragon, Miss Alby, so do I. And as long as the other students and their familiars can pull themselves together enough to trust your connection, I think we’ll be fine. I wonder, though, if you and Leander wouldn’t mind waiting on the other side of his pen until everyone joins us here and class begins. Not inside it, of course. Merely around the back.”

  Raven looked at her dragon, whose only response was to raise his head into the air and take a few deep sniffs. “You don’t want anyone else to see him first?”

  “Not quite.” He drew his hand over his mouth and chuckled again before he folded his arms. “It’s one thing to see a fully grown dragon led out of his pen by a student with no lead and none of the usual training techniques. I think, for the other students, it might make an even greater impression to see that the two of you were out here in an open field the whole time and were able to remain both silent and unseen until the right moment. That is, of course, if you’re both willing to play along for a little while.”

  “Leander?” She craned her neck to look at him and folded her arms. “I’m fine with it if you are.”

  The great red dragon lowered his head, turned away from both his mage and Professor Worley, and ambled toward the other side of the pen. “I’ll play along. If that’s his idea of fun, though, I’m sure I’ll be incredibly bored today.”

  The professor responded with a loud, rumbling laugh and thumped a fist into his open hand. “That’s good. Real good. I had no idea dragons were so funny.”

  Raven tried to frown at him but his laughter was too infectious. “It’s a certain kind of wry humor, for sure. Most people don’t pick up on it.”

  “Well, I’ve been around enough predatory animals to know when they’re acting on instinct and when they’re at least trying to be playful.”

  “Predatory animals?”

  “Hmm? Oh, yes.” The man looked away from the retreating dragon and shrugged. “That’s more of a story for another time. But remind me to tell you more when we’re not about to play dragon-in-the-box with your peers, yeah?”

  “This sounds more like your version of a practical joke, Professor.”

  “Maybe.” Worley wiggled his eyebrows, then turned to face the stone archway across the field. The growing noise of students’ voices grew louder by the second. “I think that’s our cue. I’ll ask you to step forward when it’s time. Feel free to make as much of an entrance as you like.”

  Raven laughed and slipped her satchel off her shoulders to set it beside the wall of the pen. “Do you have any other pointers for having familiar training out beside a dragon pen today?”

  “Hmm. Make sure he doesn’t eat anyone.”

  “I make no promises,” Leander rumbled and his long neck and head poked out from around the side of the pen.

  “Ha. Then the rest is up to you, Miss Alby, isn’t it?” Professor Worley released another thunderous laugh and headed toward the stables. “I have to set a few things up first. Then we’ll kick this class off in a way I haven’t yet tried. I’m very much looking forward to it.”

  Laughing too, Raven followed the large curve of the pen until she reached Leander and they both retreated around the other side to be sure they were completely hidden. “I know it’s kind of a big step for you, playing along with another trainer. I know Professor Worley appreciates it. And you know I do too.”

  “Ye
s.” He lowered his belly onto the grass and closed his eyes beneath the sunshine. “That man trains familiars, not dragons. As long as he doesn’t try to saddle me or pull me around like a pack animal, I’m interested to see what he thinks he can offer us.”

  “Fair enough.” She sat on the grass and leaned against his side. “I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing right now.”

  They waited for the other first-year students to appear at the stables for their familiar training. The field filled with excited voices, many of them commenting in one way or another on the giant, brand-new pen built at the end of the stables that hadn’t been there the previous week.

  Raven straightened and tossed her thick red braid over her shoulder. “They have to know by now that this is where you stay, right? I mean, people have seen you.”

  “Some people see a thing and still aren’t smart enough to believe their own eyes.” Leander turned his head on his long neck to look directly at her.

  She fought back a laugh. “I think this is the first time I’ve heard you whisper.”

  “I’m playing along. You should try it.”

  Trying to hold back the spontaneous laughter almost made her choke. She buried her face in her hands, and a low, stuttering hiss escaped the dragon beside her.

  “Hey, Worley said we could make whatever kind of entrance we wanted, right? I have an idea.”

  “Oh, joy.” Leander lowered his head to the grass and heaved a surprisingly gentle sigh.

  “No, really. I think you’ll like it.”

  “Look at this,” Professor Worley announced, spread his arms in front of his class, and gazed at the sky. “I know some of you don’t consider training with your familiar to be an actual class at this highly accredited school for mages. And perhaps that’s because most of the time, we’re in the barn. But what a day, huh? Spring is on the way!”

  A few students laughed at that and turned their faces to the sun. Henry glanced around the gathered class and frowned. We’re all out here for Raven and her dragon. Where is she?

  Chapter Thirty-Two