“You mentioned having read some books. Which ones?”
Deanna gestured with her fork to the bookshelf next to her. “Just these, and they’re old editions.” She rolled her chair out of the way for Khalid to look.
He did, making “mmm” noises, as if he wasn’t pleased or was pleasantly surprised at the titles; she couldn’t tell which. Considering what she’d told him, he’d better not get all judgey on her for not being better versed in it. “I can have some books sent to you.”
“Which ones?”
“Many of them. At least newer editions of what you have. The magical theory and ethics books. A basic primer on magical creatures.” He opened an app on his phone and showed them to her. “Make a list. You can get updated versions if you’d like.”
“You’re telling me they’d send me all the books I want.” She scrolled through the list.
“Of course. Just because you’re not a card-carrying member doesn’t mean they won’t provide. The goal is to enhance magical education everywhere, not just for a select few.”
She grabbed a notepad and began scribbling titles. Just a few to start; she didn’t want to be greedy. Then she tore off the sheet of paper and handed it to him.
“I’ll order these. The books on the table are for you. I wasn’t sure what you had and wanted to come prepared.” Khalid sat down and immediately began working on his phone.
Her dinner forgotten, Deanna grabbed the books. The thin copy of Musimagium for Mundanes made her snort a little. She flipped through it, noting a quick, condensed history, nothing about the divisions that happened around the Civil War, and then the work they did after the Great Dividing. Making themselves out to be saviors. She expected no less.
“It’s not the best. Look at the next book.” Khalid glanced up from his phone.
The thick tome had the bland title of The Unabridged History of the Musimagium and she noticed an entire section devoted to the Civil War and Reconstruction. There also was a chapter on Reconciliation, not to mention one on Civil Rights. The publication date was just a year ago, and she noticed that the title page mentioned that this was written by a member of the Musimagium who sought to clarify and codify not just the true history of the group, but also the work of people of color, indigenous people, and other marginalized groups. “You couldn’t have shown me this one first?”
“I think you have to read the first book to get a true feeling for the work that’s been done. There are classes based on this book at all academies now. Things are getting better.”
Before he could say anything else another crack of thunder rattled the house. Deanna jumped back to her chair and checked her phone. A flash of lightning shone between the curtains on the bay window, then almost immediately another peal of thunder vibrated the air. She swallowed hard.
“Take a deep breath. Neither of our phones buzzed with any warnings. We’re safe. You’re safe.”
She nodded, not sure she could say anything, then squeaked as more thunder sounded.
“Let me distract you. Grab the third book and I’ll make sure you’re familiar with the basic tenets of magical ethics.”
Not exactly the thing she wanted to understand during a thunderstorm, but at least it’d help distract her. She hoped.
Chapter 11
Deanna lay in bed, the covers pulled all the way to her chin even though she probably didn’t need them. Thunder rumbled overhead, growing more distant as the storms moved further away. She’d listened to Khalid, even retained some of it, including the ethics. Don’t kill people. Don’t harm people. Don’t use your magic to defraud people. It made them sound like some kind of scouting group when she knew they acted like anything but.
The storm bothered her more than she’d try to acknowledge. Khalid understood and he gave her sympathetic looks during the worst of it. The line must have slowed as it neared, because it seemed as if it had gone on forever. She worried about the dragons, though they were no doubt snug in the cave. Without Leje there to comfort them, were they scared? Did they need her?
She refused to lay there and wonder any longer. Sliding her feet into her boots and throwing a long cardigan sweater on over her pajamas, she belted it, then grabbed two blankets she could wash later and her pillow. She went downstairs and picked up her lantern, then slipped out the door without waking Khalid.
Lightning flashed in the eastern sky as she hurried toward the forest path, wanting to be undercover. The rain had stopped. Occasional drips from the tops of the few trees that remained standing. She brushed them from her forehead and hurried down the path. A sense of urgency, an almost restless feel entered her mind the closer she got to the cave. She ducked beneath the overhang and paused for a moment to wipe lingering dampness from her face.
Immediately the fluttering of wings echoed in the darkness. Deanna shone her light, relieved when jewel tones of the juvenile dragons shone in the darkness. Not bats. Thank goodness they weren’t bats. Breathing a sigh of relief, she walked forward.
“I’m here. I know that storm was scary.” She longed to cuddle them the way someone might a cat or dog. She also knew the creatures probably wouldn’t like that. Except Kle, and he flew from the back of the cave, little trills of happiness echoing almost like sonar around him. He landed on the blankets and pillows, then rubbed his face against her cheek, purring.
“I know. I know,” she crooned. When she reached the steep slope, she carefully worked her way down, somehow keeping her balance with her arms laded and an enthusiastic dragon on her shoulder. She reached the bottom and for a moment paused, wondering if she should continue. The rest of the cave seemed to be Leje’s territory, but with her no longer there… The dragons eagerly bounced forward, chattering amongst themselves. When she paused, Kle gently nipped at her hands before following them. Home.
This far down she barely heard the rumbles of thunder or maybe they’d gone too far into the distance to be heard at all. Either way, the warmth, the sound of water dripping somewhere, soothed her jangled nerves. She followed the dragons, rounding a slight curve to find a large cavern. At the far end water dripped from the ceiling to land in a shallow pool before flowing off somewhere underground. A big bed of pine and cedar boughs, still fresh smelling, sat along one side, and when she laid her blanket over it and sat, it was a cushioned mattress. She put her pillow down, then unfolded the blanket over her. One by one, as the little dragons settled around her, she turned off the lantern, asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Something tickling her nose awakened her. She sneezed, startled awake by the sound of water and the pungent aroma of pine. She blinked, the darkness startling. Fumbling for the lantern, dim memories of walking out to the cave somewhere around midnight, she flipped on the lantern. Kle sat in her lap, flapping his wings and that must have been what tickled her nose. The other dragons hovered around her. One reached out to grab her hair, tugging at the unruly curls. Ugh. Bed head made worse by a dragon. She reached up to shoo him away, then plucked pine needles from her hair. Apparently she needed a bigger blanket.
What time was it? She reached around for her phone, only to realize she’d left it at the house. She yawned and stretched, then folded up the blankets and set them in a dry, relatively clean corner of the cave. She’d come back for them later. She picked up her pillow and the lantern, then accompanied by Kle, worked her way out of the cave.
She emerged into full sunlight and realized that it must be later than she normally slept. She began jogging back to the house, aware that she needed to begin her day, and she probably looked horrible. Also, she’d slept far better and with more energy than she usually had. Had sleeping with the dragons done that? Could it be part of her magic?
She approached the house and a smiling Khalid in her front yard doing movements, not martial arts, and yet they had that feel. She hurried inside and went upstairs. A shower and picking the debris from her hair later, she came downstairs to find the coffee ready and some kind of egg and vegetable cassero
le on a plate.
“Sit. The dragons called you last night, did they?” He took a plate and sat down next to her. “That means Loraj is getting close if they feel as if they need a protector.”
“I thought it was just the thunder. Maybe they were protecting me.” She managed a wry grin before biting into the casserole. “This is good. Thank you. I didn’t mean to make you do all the cooking.”
“You weren’t making an appearance. I didn’t think you’d mind. The dragons called you. I felt it too. Less strongly, and I knew you’d heeded the call. That told me you’d be safe. We need to practice again today. It will be a week, if that, before Loraj shows up. He’s on his way.”
“Do you know where he is? Why is it taking him so long to arrive? Do they over winter somewhere?” Deanna asked between more mouthfuls of food.
“We don’t know. It’s like some species of whales. Despite their size, we don’t know a lot about their habits. We don’t even know if there are different species for the different areas or if they’re all just dragon.” Khalid grabbed another serving. “Because we don’t know a lot about them compared to other magical creatures, it’s vital that you’re ready. We don’t know what Loraj will do.”
“Okay then. We’ll continue right after breakfast.”
They took their lessons back to the cave where Deanna showed him the sleeping area. She brought an old comforter with them and spread it out on the makeshift mattress, then sat down to talk. While they chatted about the dragons, what he knew from his studies, the work he’d been doing to see if the dragons in different parts of the world evolved into different species, including collecting scales and checking DNA.
Until then, she’d been thinking of the Musimagium as some kind of old organization with its books and its schools. To imagine that they had a scientific lab and ran DNA sequencing boggled her mind. He’d been working with someone not far away associated with a university but that contact had dried up and was looking for someone else with help from the organization. “When I’m ready, I’d love to get a scale from Kle or even Loraj if they’ll share one with you. It’s not like I can walk up even to the little guys and grab a scale off of them.” A tiny black dragon hissed and shot sparks, all of which landed far enough away from the pine boughs not to set them on fire. “Even the little ones are dangerous.”
As if the small, black dragon set off something among the others, suddenly the dragons, including Kle, began jumping up and down and hissing. They shot sparks into the center of the cave, as if Leje had taught them not to blow sparks on her bed. Then again, with the power that Khalid had shown her, Deanna guessed anyone with dragon magic could douse any flames before they got out of control. As if to prove her point, Kle hopped a little too close to her and hissed. A spark landed next to her on some cedar boughs and struck a small flame. Without thinking much about it, Deanna reached out and doused it with a wave of her hand.
She gasped with the realization of what she’d just done. She’d successfully used her magic. “Try that again,” she told Kle. The small dragon, eager to comply, puffed himself up, then released a sputter of sparks that had Deanna stifling a fit of giggles. A few of them landed on the dried grasses and she quickly doused the flames. The smell of burnt cedar filled the air.
“That’s good. Hardly any flare of power. Nice. That shows control,” Khalid said.
The dragons scampered off, rolling and tumbling over one another in play, happy with their ability to toss sparks at the people. Deanna watched, wondering what it would take to move her house, or at least some general living quarters to be with the dragons full time. An image of Loraj’s face, mouth open to reveal his teeth, filled her mind. A low growl rumbled from his throat, then he swooped down from the sky.
Deanna shuddered and turned away from the small dragons. The menacing tone in his growl worried her. As if he either was jealous of the time she spent with the smaller dragons or he wanted her away from them. Neither one sounded good. Loraj’s image wavered, then turned away as he soared toward the sky again. She frowned, wishing she’d known whether the conversation with him was real or some figment of her imagination.
“I wish I knew how soon he would be here. I feel like I have so much to learn and not enough time,” Deanna said.
Khalid stood. “Then let’s get back to work. We’ll see what we can cover. Loraj will appear when he’s ready. One thing that I’ve learned about working with dragons is that male dragons work on their own time frames. They don’t bow to anyone, including dragon mages. We’ll work outside the cave, but whenever you feel a need to be with the dragons, come here. The more time you spend with them, even just the little ones, the stronger your magic will grow.” He stood and strode toward the opening to the chamber.
“Okay.” Deanna folded up the blankets, then headed toward the cave opening. She’d done it. She’d put out the little ones’ fires. Hopefully that meant she was growing in her powers, so much so that Loraj would accept her when he came. She gingerly worked her way up the steep incline, then strode out of the cave. When she emerged, she blinked against the light. Though it would take a long time for the trees to recover and she still needed to paint the rooms that’d been repaired, she had to think perhaps the storm had happened for a reason. Without it, she wouldn’t have met Leje and wouldn’t have learned more about what would happen. All she had to do now was wait for Loraj’s arrival and continue to learn.
Chapter 12
Thankfully, the frequencies were filled with chatter as she listened to the radio. The Radio Arcanum Times had run no stories about a dragon showing up at the Academy, though there were a few stories about how construction was progressing and that the first students would move in soon. Maybe Eklan would wait until someone was there with dragon magic. She listened with half an ear, reading one book Khalid had given her. He’d gone into town, leaving her to her research.
The blue skies and unseasonably warm air made it hard to believe that not that long ago a huge tornado, rated an EF-3, had torn through her property and done more damage. She considered herself lucky. Her grandmother had said magic protected the place. If it was, some of it had to wane with the damage to her house and once the dragon situation was settled, she would look at that to see what she could do. She’d dug out some old boxes that’d been stashed in the bedroom she’d turned into storage, finding them covered in dust. However, as soon as she opened them, she saw the books that her grandmother had packed away after her mother’s death. She opened one to find her grandmother’s scratchy hand-writing, slightly wavy, yet instantly identifiable, on the inside.
No suspicious letters, no notes about “if you find these…”. They were there. Packed away in a closet that Deanna hadn’t bothered to go through yet, though she needed to. She swallowed against the wave of grief rising within her. Memories flooded her mind and she wished with all her heart she would have spoken with her grandmother more about magic. She hadn’t. Instead, she’d gone off to school, coming back before earning a degree when her grandmother’s health declined.
So much time lost. So many opportunities lost. She refused to dwell on them, even though the weight of them hung heavy on her heart and in her mind. She turned off the radio, the chatter mostly benign. Not so much as people complaining about things changing, but just chatter about how things were better and what did the Musimagium Council think they were doing. She knew what they were doing. They were staying relevant.
The question that Khalid hadn’t been able to answer and she hadn’t figured out was why now. Why was Loraj returning now? Why was Eklan revealing their presence now? And what was her role to be in all of this? She could stay here and care for these dragons, but if there were little ones here, surely there were smaller dragons elsewhere. With other dragon mages to take care of them. She had no way of connecting with them, no way of getting in touch.
Things were changing, no matter how much the mages on the magical ham radio frequencies wanted to make it stop. For what reason, she didn’t thi
nk even the Council knew, or if they did, they weren’t telling. And that, she had to admit, worried her far more than the fact that Loraj might reject her. The wind picked up side. Dried leaves from last fall rustled. Her heart skipped a beat and she told herself it was okay. There weren’t any storms in the forecast at all. She stood and stretched, going to the bay window to look out. Kle had left the front yard, presumably to go back to the cave. She promised him she’d cook more hamburger; Khalid would bring it back from town. She’d offered him left over chicken from last night, and the dragon gobbled it down eagerly.
The front yard appeared normal, the wind swirling the leaves around. She frowned and told herself it would be okay. She went to the windows across the room by her desk that looked over the backyard. Dark clouds churned on the horizon.
No, that couldn’t be. Her heart hammering, she sat down at her desk and checked the weather. The icon for a sunny day mocked her. As did the clear forecast for that evening and the next few days. The radar showed nothing, only a few specks next to the location that was just radar clutter. She refreshed the page just to be sure. Still nothing.
And yet, her eyes would not deceive her. The view on the horizon appeared as if a storm headed in her direction. Loraj? She shook her head. Khalid wasn’t back and surely the dragon wouldn’t be arriving so soon. She hadn’t finished her training, could only put out small fires in her charcoal grill and light the coals or some basic tinder. The little dragons had played with her, showering a pile of kindling with sparks, watching some of it light, and then she’d put it out. She didn’t know why Khalid spent so much time on this part of her training. Lore and mythology and other things had to come too if she would protect the dragons completely. Other than the books, none of that had come.
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