It felt like I was seeing through my skin. I could feel the trees in front of me, the rocks at my feet and even the fallen log a few steps ahead that I hadn't noticed till now. The awareness was mind-boggling—there was so much information to pay attention to, so much to evaluate and keep track of.
Another deep breath. I could feel my brain expanding.
"Begin!"
Commander Ofisi's voice came from overhead this time. My newly sensitive hearing made it feel like a shout.
The soldiers beside me took off at his command, and I did the same.
The blindfold did little to slow me down. If anything, I felt more confident. In this darkness, I wouldn't have been able to see well anyway. And apart from the occasional fallen log or boulder, running was easy. If it was one thing that I prided myself on, it was my speed—and I was soon neck-in-neck with the other soldiers who had bolted before me.
Maybe I did have a chance at this.
It won't be that easy for long, Ignimitra's voice was sharp.
What is it? What do you see?
A cliff...I think?
My pounding heartbeat returned, only with my heightened senses it felt like a snare drum inside my body. It was in the column of my neck, in my fingertips, in my soles.
Sure enough, my sprint came to an abrupt end moments later. A few steps in front of me, the forest floor fell away completely. The drop off was so deep that even with Ignimitra's heightened senses I couldn't tell where it ended. My senses read it as a bottomless pit.
The forest seemed to continue on the other side of the chasm. More than that, the chasm had a distinct sound...a low hum almost.
You hear that too, right?
Yes, but I can’t tell what’s making the noise. She huffed, and I swear I felt the breath leave my nostrils too. This is much too troublesome; I should be able to fly you across.
I shrugged, turning over the new information in my mind. We needed a plan, and fast.
There has to be a way to cross this.
This apparently was the ‘tactical’ in Tactical Advanced Class VI. The other soldiers that I had been in stride with seemed to be weighing what to do about the chasm too.
I needed to make it over before them.
Can you lend me your strength?
Ignimitra hesitated. Yes, but...why?
Ignimitra.
My arms and legs began to tingle again.
Thank you, my dragon.
What are you going to try?
I left her question hanging in my mind. I couldn't even bear to think about what I was about to attempt. It was risky, and I didn't want to lose the confidence I had. Dragon Guard soldiers had to be fearless in the face of anything—even bottomless, humming, gaping holes in the earth.
The power pounding in my legs made me feel weightless as I walked back into the forest. When I was satisfied with the distance, I retrieved my knife, holding it firmly in my right hand.
I can read your thoughts, Kaos. That won’t work.
You can't be sure.
Well, it's not very safe, she amended.
None of what we do is safe, I smiled, bouncing on the balls of my feet.
Why don't you try to see if you can walk around the chasm?
Instead of replying to her, I started running with all the power I could. The earth wailed under my stomps, a cacophony of snapping twigs and crushed rocks. The strength in my legs catapulted me faster than I expected. In an instant, I was up on the edge of the drop off.
With all our might, I flung myself across the chasm.
At first it felt like flying. I was weightless, the air on my face cold and unforgiving. But then, I started dropping. Then, I was free falling.
The other side of the chasm was so close, but just too far. The blackness was growing closer by the second, but I steeled myself against the anxiety bubbling in my throat. Part of me had expected this, so with an outstretched arm I slammed my dagger into the rockface.
My knife found purchase in a groove between the rocks, and I held on it for dear life. Dislodged rocks tumbled into the chasm below me, my legs dangling limply beneath me. My entire life depended on this six-inch knife.
The climb to the top of the chasm was short. If I could make it up, I would be on the other side. Cautiously, I took my sword from its scabbard. Tightening my grip on the dagger, I swung myself upwards. With a grunt, I stabbed the rock face with my sword.
Now, I was a few inches higher.
With each second that passed, the anxiety in my throat kept building, but I didn't dare let it stop my ascent. Ignimitra was stone silent, but I could feel her own nervousness permeating my thoughts. She was holding herself back from coming to my rescue.
Suddenly, the hum that had been emanating from below me became louder.
What is that?
My voice jolted Ignimitra out of her stupor.
I can't tell.
Neither could I, and the feeling tightened its grip on my heart. My ascent was slower than I would like, but any faster and I risked falling into the chasm. Silently, I hoped that I could get to the top before whatever that was making that noise realized that I was the one pitching rocks into its home.
The hum grew louder and I pushed myself harder.
When I made it to the top, I was out of breath. Despite Ignimitra's strength, my arms were on fire from all the upper-body workout that took. A few minutes to relax would have been perfect—but, I didn’t have that luxury. Especially when I realized that the other soldiers who had been flanking me on the other side of the chasm seemed to be preparing for their own jump across.
I had only taken a few steps when the earth began to shake.
In my almost eighteen years, I'd only experienced a handful of earthquakes. Most of them I had slept through. But what was happening felt nothing like any of them. The ground jerked so ferociously that I had to get on my knees, else the shaking would have catapulted me over the ledge into oblivion.
It stopped as suddenly as it started. The humming had stopped too.
The entire forest seemed to be silent, waiting. A sense of foreboding wound its way around my spine, making the back of my hair stand on edge.
Instinctively, I reached for my sword.
Out of the chasm appeared a beast that I'd only heard tales about as a child.
The huge, serpentine creature had spiky scales that jutted out of its sides—fine, and razor sharp like dragon teeth. A distinctive crown of those scales framed its head, giving it the illusion of a mane. I recognized it from a story my father used to tell me, only because the first time I heard of it, it gave me nightmares.
It was a dragonsnake, and it was out for my blood.
Run! Ignimitra's voice was urgent.
But I couldn't move. Or, it felt like I didn't want to. Part of me told me to run, but another part told me to fight it. And that was the one I went with.
I readied my sword, taking a tentative step towards the creature.
Kaos, what are you doing? Escape into the forest, it can't follow you.
The dragonsnake screeched, realizing that I'd accepted its challenge. Even though I ignored Ignimitra's warning, I knew that she was right. The dragonsnake wouldn't follow me. It was only protecting its home.
The creature lurched forward, baring its teeth at me. I dodged the attack, then slashed the dragonsnake fiercely across its jaw. It screeched in pain, recoiling as a few of its scales tumbled to the earth. A tingle of triumph ignited in my chest.
It rebounded quickly, this time, keeping its distance.
When it opened its mouth, I expected another sneer. Instead, the dragonsnake spewed something that sent a searing pain up my leg.
Then just as suddenly as it appeared, the dragonsnake sank back into the depths of the chasm. Whatever it had spit on me had burned through my leather uniform, turning my shin pink and raw. It hurt, but it was still manageable.
On the other side of the chasm, the other soldiers had used my fight with the creature as a div
ersion to make their passage across simpler. I could see the tops of their heads peeking out from the drop off, as they struggled to climb up. There was no time to wallow in my pain.
Pain shot up my leg with every step but I ignored it, pushing myself harder, faster.
Out of all the things I had expected to find in this forest, a dragonsnake had been the furthest from my mind. When I was a toddler, my father used to tell me stories of a fierce kind of snake that guarded treasure at the bottom of the divide that had formed when one of the Great Dragons created our country. Had it been more than a story?
When I broke the perimeter of the forest, a handful of soldiers and dragons were gathered there, including Commander Ofisi and Ladonne. Overhead, Ignimitra hovered. I counted how many soldiers had made it here before me.
"Captain Kressin, you're seventh."
His pronouncement stifled the final glimmer of hope that I had. Seventh. Basically, last. I ripped off my blindfold. The shock of sight sent a shiver down my spine.
"You did well for a newt," the soldier closest to me said. It was the same one who had ended up beside me at the training ground earlier. I sized him up in the dim light.
He was lanky, thinner than I would've expected for someone who managed to navigate the forest so quickly. His eyes were shaded by a wavy shock of red hair, and he had the same milky complexion Solra had. That the headmaster had.
I couldn't tell if he was being nice or not, so I settled for a wordless shrug and started limping over to the nearest rock for a seat. Ignimitra's power began to slowly disappear out of my body, leaving me with aches and pains all in all my joints, and a leg that felt like my skin was melting off.
The world felt like I was seeing it through a haze again, as if the darkness on this side of the forest was thicker than the other side. The edges of my vision were gray and cloudy.
One by one, the other soldiers arrived—each of them met with the same news the Commander had broken to me. Many of them had seemed surprised to see me, especially since that meant I had made it here before they did. Quietly, I relished the look on their faces as they came to realize that I wasn't just a newbie.
"That's a nasty wound. You should get it checked out," the red-head said. He had moved to stand beside me at some point.
I looked up at him, trying to catch his eye. They were a bright green, almost glowing in the wan light.
"I will," I said through gritted teeth.
The pain was slowly burning out everything else. Even getting up from this rock seemed like it would be impossible if we didn't get dismissed soon. I knew that I could've asked for permission to leave, I was entitled to it. But it didn't sit well with me to be sent to the alchemist on the first day of this new class. It reminded me too much of our first day at the Academy. The last thing I needed was to seem this weak in front of these soldiers.
"What attacked you?" He had bent forward to look at my leg. My eyes didn't follow him, afraid of what I'd see.
"The dragonsnake," my teeth clattered when I spoke.
He looked up at me with wide eyes.
"The what?"
"The dragonsnake...in the chasm," I repeated.
"You need to go to the alchemist. Now." The finality in his voice surprised me.
There were still a few soldiers who hadn't made it back yet.
"No. I'll go when we're dismissed."
He rolled his eyes. "Dragonsnake venom is poisonous. I don't know how you're still conscious."
I told you to run, Ignimitra shouted harshly.
She had landed a few feet away from me, pinning me with a hard amethyst gaze.
The nosy soldier had left my side to approach the Commander. Now that I knew that the pain I felt was actually the prelude to death, my pride didn't matter as much. Their conversation was out of earshot, but the Commander hurried over to me.
"Captain Dorran, strap her to her dragon," he barked at the soldier.
I knew that he picked me up—I could see his hands hooked around the backs of my knees—but I couldn't feel a thing other than the fire in my veins. Panic clouded my head. I was certain that I was panicking, but I couldn't even feel the familiar strain of that either. Only pain that was increasingly starting to feel like just warmth.
"You fought the dragonsnake, Kressin?" The Commander's voice lacked its usual edge. In another world I would've thought that he was concerned about me.
I nodded, "Yes, briefly."
"You're lucky," he said grimly. "Few men have lived to tell that tale."
Dorran strapped me into Ignimitra's saddle. I barely had the strength to sit up much less hold the reins, but the harness secured me enough that I wouldn't fall off.
"I'll come with you," Dorran said quickly, and he was up on Ignimitra the next second. My protest was lost in my throat. All of a sudden, I couldn’t speak either.
"You'd better tell your dragon to hurry," He said.
Ignimitra launched into the air quickly, her wing beats sliced through the air at a deafening pace. It almost sounded like she had two pairs of wings, but I wasn't certain, for the higher we climbed the less the world started to make sense. Was I sitting up or lying down? How high was Ignimitra? Where did Dorran go?
Even though I knew we must have been approaching sunlight, my vision began to fade.
You never listen.
Then it was all black.
Chapter 5
The sunlight on my face pulled me out of the darkness.
My eyelids felt like lead, and my eyes were full of gravel. It was only after a while of ferocious blinking that my surroundings became clear.
I was lying in bed, swathed from head to toe in thick woolen sheets. The sheer curtains danced in the shimmering sunlight, a brisk wind blowing in from outside. The room felt familiar—like I'd been here before, but I couldn't place it. It certainly wasn’t mine.
Pain blossomed in my head when I tried to sit up, spreading through my body in a warm, uncomfortable wave.
That feeling...
Flinging the covers off hurriedly, I rushed to look at my leg. The last thing I remembered was being strapped into Ignimitra's saddle and being unable to feel a single thing. Sure, I was alive. But at what cost?
I half expected to be missing a leg.
Instead, there was a thick bandage covering the skin from my knee to my ankle. Whatever Betheka had done to me seemed to have worked, for when I poked the bandage, I could feel it.
Betheka.
This was her house!
I'd stolen a peak at her guest room a few times, and slowly I began to recognize the place. That meant she couldn't have been far. Probably she was out in the yard giving Ignimitra a few berries. That one would've been restless for the few hours I was asleep.
Despite the discomfort I managed to stand, catching a glimpse of myself in the rough hewn mirror leaning against the wall by the bed.
It was like staring at a ghost. My face was paler than I expected, my dark hair was sticking up at odd angles. Despite how rested I felt, there were bags under my eyes. My gray uniform had been replaced by a cinched nightdress that was too big for me, so it was probably Betheka's.
My knife was lying in its holster on the nightstand, along with my sword and scabbard. Most things seemed to be in order.
Each step hurt my injured leg, but it was manageable. If I was going to be ready for class tomorrow, then I'd have to get used to it anyway. Even if the dragonsnake venom had been poisonous, I didn't want to be associated with my injury.
The house was quiet—all I could hear were my own dull footsteps and the sound of wind disturbing the curtains and those garlands Betheka liked to keep in every window. Her house smelled like cinnamon and apple, mixed with some obscure spice that I had come to associate with her. Maybe I ought to ask her what it was.
The hallway deposited me in the sitting room, and that's where I found her with her nose buried in a book. She looked relaxed—horn-rimmed glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose, her curly hair held bac
k by a headband. She had even traded the heavy dresses she usually wore for a light, summery one.
"Beth?"
She looked up at me with wide eyes, her toothy grin nearly reaching her ears. My heart warmed at the sight of her. She looked so much better than the last time I saw her, and for a moment I fancied the thought that she was feeling better.
"Finally awake, are we?" Betheka chuckled, setting the book down on the low table in front of her.
I sat beside her on the couch, leaning back into the sheepskin pillows.
"You're worth your weight in gold. I feel mostly healed," I grinned at her.
She smiled bashfully. "After two days of sleep, you'd better be!"
My mouth fell open, which only seemed to incite her to more laughter.
"Two days?" I looked down at my hands. Almost instantly, hunger bloomed in my stomach and I knew she was right. The last time I'd been this hungry I'd been kept prisoner.
She nodded.
"Where's Ignimitra?" This was the longest we had ever been apart.
Betheka tittered softly. "She was upset when she brought you here, but I calmed her down and made sure Cuinn fed her while you were healing. She's been coming by every day. Maybe she'll be here soon."
So, she was fine. Good. "Cuinn?"
"The soldier who brought you here?"
Ah, the redhead.
"Oh," I said. Cuinn Dorran. "Well, that's all good right?" I didn’t know how to explain my discomfort about him to Betheka.
She nodded. "Come to the kitchen. I'll make you some lunch, and we can talk more."
My stomach flipped in delight at her words, and I did as she asked. It must've been a curious sight to see Betheka and I, decades apart in age, both hobbling to the kitchen. As she got busy around the stove, my mind drifted back to Ignimitra.
Dragon Guard Page 5
