by Martha Carr
The young mages shared another glance and the girl finally let herself smile too. “We’re working on it.”
Raven folded her arms against her damp shirt and chuckled wryly.
“I’m happy to put that away for you, Miss Chase. You’re free to go home if you like.” Flynn held his hand out and Bella gave him the staff. He nodded and glanced at Raven. “You can put your own staff away, Miss Alby.”
He wandered toward the weapons shed between the stables and the barn.
“Huh. It looks like you’re the only one getting special favors today.”
Bella shook her head. “I can’t tell if he took that staff to be nice or to secretly tell me I shouldn’t spar with a staff at all.”
They watched the headmaster until he disappeared around the end of the stables, then the girl peeled her damp shirt away from her body again and made a face at Raven. “I need a shower.”
“Tell me about it.” She wiped her forehead again and nodded. “See you tomorrow. We’ll blow all those dummies to pieces.”
“We’d better.” Bella headed to the main road toward Brighton’s town center but paused and twisted slightly to look at her. “Have you read those pages yet?”
A laugh of disbelief escaped her. “Wow. Now I know how you felt when I tried to get you to read them.”
“So that’s a no.”
She gave Leander a quick look. The dragon simply stared at her. I probably shouldn’t tell her what we found. Not until we know what we’re dealing with. “I was a little busy last night.”
“Well, don’t let yourself get too busy every night, Raven. Seriously. Read the journal.” With a final wave, the girl hurried across the field. Wesley darted behind her, soared over her head, and wheeled constantly to let her catch up with him.
Raven hefted the bo staff and headed toward the weapons shed. Headmaster Flynn stood beside the open door, waiting for her. He smiled when she stepped into the building to put the weapon away with the others, then closed the door softly and nodded toward the main courtyard and the school’s buildings.
“I wasn’t merely being polite when I said you and Miss Chase have really made progress over the past few weeks.”
“Thanks. How long were you watching us?” They stepped out from between the stables and the barn, where Leander ambled slowly toward them and listened to their conversation.
“Oh, for the last hour or so.”
She shrugged. “It would’ve been more exciting if we’d actually mastered that spell the way we’re supposed to. But we’ll get there.”
“I have no doubt, Miss Alby.” Flynn gave her a sidelong glance and his lips twitched in amusement as the afternoon sunlight caught the long scar that stretched down the side of his face. “I was, however, referring to your partnership with Miss Chase.”
“Really?”
“Don’t act so surprised.” The headmaster chuckled. “It wasn’t that long ago that you and Miss Chase were repeatedly brought to my office in the hopes that I would settle some deep-seated dispute between the two of you. I doubt that will happen much more in the future.”
Raven glanced at the edge of the field and the road beyond Fowler Academy’s front gates. “Probably not.”
“I think I may come out here more often during your war-mage training if that’s all right with you. It’s been some time since I’ve seen two students who worked so seamlessly together with battle magic.”
Surprised by the request, she widened her eyes at the headmaster and nodded. “I don’t mind at all. Bella might feel extra pressured, though, if she knows you’re watching.”
Flynn’s smile widened as he looked at the giant red dragon that approached slowly. “I’ll remain as silent and invisible as I was this afternoon.”
Leander lowered his head toward the headmaster and stopped directly behind Raven.
“I would also like you to join me in my office after lunch, Miss Alby. If you have the time.”
The young mage stepped back to run her hand along the side of her dragon’s face. “Sure. After lunch. And a shower.”
With another chuckle, he nodded at both mage and dragon familiar before he clasped his hands behind his back. “I look forward to it.”
He moved swiftly toward the stone archway, and Raven turned toward Leander. “He usually sends someone else to fetch me to his office. It must be important this time.”
The dragon stared after Flynn. “I thought it was always important.”
“Yeah, but he came out here to ask me himself. I wonder what he wants to talk about. Did you know he was there watching us?”
Leander turned his head enough to focus one yellow eye on his mage. “I did not.”
“Huh.”
“I don’t like it.”
Raven couldn’t help a laugh. “I can’t imagine you would. Headmaster Flynn’s either beaten you in the stealth game, or he worked some serious magic to make sure we didn’t see him.”
“Of course it was magic.”
As she turned toward her dragon’s enclosure at the end of the stables, she smirked and let her familiar follow closely behind. “Right. Because no human could ever be as naturally quiet as a dragon.”
“Exactly.”
She flashed the access rune on her forearm at the gate, opened it for Leander, and waited for him to enter first. “By the way, you really stepped it up a notch with sending those images. It felt like I had eyes in the back of my head.”
The dragon rumbled softly as he circled the pen before he settled into the grass. “They’re still my eyes, little girl. I suppose I don’t mind sharing them with you.”
“You’re so generous.” With a chuckle, she approached him and leaned forward a little to run her hand along the ridges of his snout and up between his eyes. “Seriously, though. There’s so much more we can do now with you sending me what you see. Now I have to practice sending images to you and we’ll be unstoppable.”
Leander snorted, closed his eyes, and enjoyed her light touch. “We’re already unstoppable.”
“So far. That might have its limits, though. We barely got away with defeating the last of the Swarm, and the raiders didn’t put up much of a fight once they saw what you could do.”
“They were stupid.”
She laughed. “That’s one way to put it. Still, I have a feeling it won’t always be that easy. It’s not like Bella and I are the most powerful war mages in Lomberdoon.”
“Not yet.”
Her smile widened, and she patted the side of his face. “You talk a big game, Leander.”
“It’s not only talk, little girl. We’ve proven ourselves more than once.”
“Yes, we have.” With a sigh, Raven peeled her shirt away from her body again and her nostrils flared. “I really do need a shower. And as soon as I’m done talking to Headmaster Flynn about…whatever it is, I’ll come tell you.”
His only response was to lower his head onto his forepaws and watch her walk across the enclosure toward the open gate.
“Hey, maybe I got another letter from my grandpa. Which might mean he actually got mine too.”
The dragon closed his eyes with a small sigh, and she slipped out before she closed the gate and hurried toward the girls’ dormitory.
Clean, dry, and in a fresh set of clothes, Raven hurried down the stairs into the common room. “Yes. I made it.”
The long banquet tables along the side of the room hadn’t been cleared from lunch yet, so she piled a plate with fruit, cheese, buttered bread, and the last chicken thigh on the platter. She took her lunch to the table where Elizabeth sat over another book. Iggy was curled in his mage’s lap, apparently asleep.
“What have you been up to?” she asked as she slipped into a chair across the table.
“You’re looking at it.” Elizabeth didn’t look up from her book.
“It must be nice to have all day to read before classes pick up again tomorrow.”
The girl shrugged and tossed her black bangs out of her eyes
before they fell into place again.
Raven wolfed her food down and followed almost every mouthful with a swig of fresh water from the pitcher. Her roommate looked slowly from her reading and cocked her head. When Raven noticed her friend staring at her, she swallowed her huge mouthful and smiled. “What?”
“Did you forget to eat for the last two days or something?”
Chuckling, she leaned back in her chair and glanced at her almost empty plate. “No. I guess I worked up an appetite training this morning.”
Elizabeth smirked and returned to her book.
“Hey, I have a question for you.”
“Yeah.” The black-haired mage pressed her finger onto the page and looked up again.
“Have you ever read anything about…” Raven wrinkled her nose. This is gonna sound nuts. “I don’t know. Monsters?”
“Monsters?” The amused smile returned to the girl’s face, and she tilted her head quizzically.
“I know, it’s a weird thing to ask.”
“Not really. But you have to be a little more specific. Some people still think dragons are monsters.”
Raven snorted. “Those people should try meeting one. But it might not be all that far off from what I’m talking about. So more specifically, monsters that might look like dragons. You know—wings, tails, the whole thing. Only bigger and scarier and covered in spikes.”
“That’s definitely more specific.” The girl’s eyes narrowed. “But if it looks like a dragon and flies like a dragon…”
“Yeah, most people would say it’s a dragon.” She sighed in genuine frustration and took another sip of water. “But I really don’t think that’s what it is.”
Elizabeth closed her book and slid it to the side. “Something tells me this isn’t a hypothetical question.”
“Not really.” Raven glanced around the almost empty common room. Two other girls sat at a table behind her, and she stood from the chair to sit again next to her roommate. “You can’t tell anyone else about this, okay? Not until I find answers first.”
“Now I’m really interested.” Elizabeth leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. “Sure. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Okay.” She lowered her voice and leaned closer. “Leander saw this…thing flying around two nights ago. It was mostly hidden behind the clouds, so he mainly saw only a giant shadow. But it’s tail was…okay, like a dragon’s tail but definitely not. All shiny and black and covered in spikes everywhere. It was huge—bigger than any dragon I’ve seen—and no one seems to know what it is.”
“Who have you asked?”
“Well, only William Moss so far. The dragon trainer. He said something about other wild dragons living across the sea, but what Leander saw is here. It flew over the school and everything.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened above her growing smile. “That’s so cool.”
“Um…” Raven chuckled. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you’d think that. You’re always reading something, so I thought I’d ask.”
“I’ve read legends about monsters.” The girl glanced at her closed book. “And stories about dragons, but those all come from when people started raising them on ranches. I don’t remember reading anything about a monster that’s like a dragon but not.”
“Right. That’s the only way I can describe it.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t another dragon flying around in the clouds?”
Raven gave her roommate a knowing glance and shook her head. “I know what a dragon in the sky looks like. So does Leander. This was something else.”
“Awesome.” Elizabeth ran a few fingers down Iggy’s curled back in her lap and nodded. “When you do find out, let me know. I might be able to find even more books about it if I know what I’m looking for.”
“That would be helpful. Thanks.”
“What?” The other mage laughed and straightened in her chair. “I was talking about books for me to read but if you want to borrow them, I guess that’s cool too.”
“Still helpful.” Raven stood and stretched across the table to gather her plate and cup. “I’ll let you know.”
“Where are you going now?”
“Flynn’s office.” She gestured with her arms and stepped backward toward the tray for used plates beside the banquet tables. “I’ve been summoned again.”
“Not surprising. Good luck.”
Before she could thank her, Elizabeth had already opened her book again and was immersed in the pages. She deposited her plate and cup on the cart, braided her hair, and tied it back quickly before she hurried to Headmaster Flynn’s office. It feels like I’m in there all the time. This had better be good.
Chapter Sixteen
When she reached the top of the tower’s winding staircase, the door to Headmaster Flynn’s office was wide open. That’s new.
Raven stepped through the doorway and knocked lightly on the open door. “Headmaster Flynn?”
“Miss Alby.” The headmaster looked up from his desk with a smile and set his quill in front of him. “That was faster than I expected.”
“Do you want me to come back later?”
“No, no. Now works perfectly. Please, come in.”
She proceeded into the man’s office that also doubled as his living quarters. Flynn’s massive wolf familiar Rider lay on the floor beside the wall, his head raised to look at her. “Hi, Rider.”
The wolf’s mouth opened and his tongue peeked out over his sharp teeth as he panted.
“I’ll only be a moment.” Flynn stood from his chair and dripped melted silver wax onto the four rolls of parchment paper on the desk before he stamped them with the Fowler Academy seal on his ring. With a nod at his handiwork, he looked at her and smiled. “I’d like to ask a favor of you and Leander, Miss Alby.”
“Oh. Okay.” She glanced at the papers on his desk. Nothing from the capital and no new letters. Bummer.
“I have a few messages that need to be delivered.” He brushed the scrolls together into a neat pile on his desk. “And to be perfectly honest, the novelty of having a student at this school with a dragon familiar hasn’t quite worn off, even this far into the year. This is why I’m asking you and Leander to deliver these messages for me.”
Raven’s eyes widened. “You want us to deliver your letters?”
“Yes.” The headmaster cleared this throat before he broke into a wide grin. “Of course, I can use another messenger on horseback if I must. But these are rather time-sensitive letters, and I thought you both might appreciate getting out of Brighton with more of a purpose beyond flying as far as Leander wishes to. Unless Azerad was enough for you.”
The young mage perked up and nodded. “We can handle it.”
“That’s what I assumed.”
She smirked. “As long as Leander and I don’t become the go-to messenger for Fowler.”
“Oh, ha.” Flynn chuckled and gathered the narrow scrolls into one hand as he stepped out from behind his desk. “That is one condition I can most certainly agree to, Miss Alby. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe you have the rest of the day to yourself.”
“That’s right.”
“Excellent. Then I would very much appreciate it if you and Leander could use this afternoon to deliver these for me. Preferably as soon as you leave this tower.”
Raven took the scrolls and started to read the names written across the outside above the wax seals before the headmaster handed her another piece of parchment paper.
“This is a list of the people who need to receive those letters. Please be sure to deliver them only to the people whose names you see here and not to anyone else. Certain letters have a tendency to be delayed when they change hands multiple times. And I’ve included something of a crude map to help you orient yourself.” The man chuckled and pointed at the list when the young mage took it. “These are all larger towns around Brighton. You’ll only go as far as Bluredge, which isn’t nearly as far as Azerad. On a dragon, I should think you’ll find it easy
enough to reach all four towns and return to school grounds before dark. Or a little after.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Yes, I know how fast that dragon of yours really is.” He turned toward his desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a vial of premade calling potion and a coin purse. “But if you find yourself in a situation where time is working against you, be sure to let me know.”
She had to shift the scrolls she held to make room for the vial and the coin purse, which clinked heavily in her hand. “I get an allowance for this?”
The headmaster nodded at the purse and raised an eyebrow. “For emergencies only. Otherwise, I would very much appreciate the return of both potion and coin.”
“Of course.” Raven grinned at him and waited for the rest of his instructions.
“That is all, Miss Alby. Thank you for agreeing to do this. It saves me considerable time, which I’m already running low on as it is.”
“Thanks for trusting us with your letters.” She lifted her armful of items and nodded. “We’ll be back before you know it.”
“Excellent.” Flynn returned to his chair and picked his quill up again.
Raven turned quickly and ran down the stairs. When she burst through the front doors of the main building, she almost raced through the archway into the field before she skidded to a halt on the cobblestones. “Bag. I need a bag.”
She laughed at herself and went to retrieve her satchel from her room. Headmaster Flynn’s sending us on special errands now. It seems simple enough. I bet it’s some kind of test.
With the items stowed safely in her satchel, she raced across the field toward Leander’s pen. He snorted in greeting before she pushed her jacket sleeve up to expose her access rune, she poked her head into the enclosure, and grinned. “We have a job, Leander. Straight from Headmaster Flynn.”
The dragon turned his head to regard her with a steady stare. “What?”
“Yeah. Come on.” She opened the gate and waited for her familiar to emerge from his special temporary home.
