Dragon Guard

by Devonnie Asher

  He paused briefly, sucking in a breath.

  “Two days ago, an attack on our Fire Star Island naval base sank twenty ships. We lost two thousand men.”

  Ice gathered on my skin at his words. An attack? Just a few months ago, I had been on that island. The base had seemed like an impenetrable fortress. How could they have successfully attacked us? The Headmaster continued amidst the shocked whispers among us.

  “A new coalition has risen in. The Astraphotians and the Terragians have joined forces.”

  The clearing fell quiet instantly.

  The Astraphotians had managed to make an alliance with Drakkendom of Terragi? Weren't the Terragians our allies? The Earth Dragons of Terragi were naturally superior to our Fire Dragons. It was the law of nature. The alliance had always benefited us.

  What could have shattered it?

  “The two nations formed a trade alliance behind our back, following the discovery of extensive mineral deposits in Astraphotis.” He spat the words like they were bitter. “The Astraphotians didn’t take kindly to the raids we led on their land following the brazen kidnapping of a Senior Aerial Captain. They put pressure on the Terragians, and forced them to choose...” He kneaded his temple. “They broke our century-old alliance.”

  I could feel the venom dripping from his words. A flicker of anger sparked in my chest too. That alliance had been formed in the midst of the last great spat that erupted in New Terra. Nothing good would come of breaking it—not even for the Terragians.

  “Though we suffered a great loss on Fire Star Island, we are not defeated.” The Headmaster held his head high. “Nature calls for equalization, but we want annihilation! They have chosen to defy the greatest nation in the world, and we will make them suffer for it. By the Fire Drakken’s hand, we will execute our judgement.”

  His words were a rallying call to soldiers. They responded with cheers and shouts of defiance, screaming like a pack of blood-thirsty hounds. I stayed quiet.

  “Every soldier cleared for active duty should report to their squadron commander at sunrise. Those of you in training, your drills will be expedited. We need every man and dragon available.”

  Headmaster Archer's grip on the podium was so tight, I swore I saw the wood cracking under his grasp. He was clearly more rattled by this than he let on. How would these changes affect me? Would they send me into the field? I hadn’t been assigned to a squadron yet.

  A thick bile rose in my throat at the thought. My injury felt like a handicap now—I wasn’t ready. But it was my sworn oath, so I had to fulfill it to the best of my ability.

  When the Headmaster dismissed us, the group of soldiers came alive with fervent chatter. I weaved through the pockets of them, catching bits and pieces of their conversation. Most seemed excited, happy even, at the prospect of fighting a war. Others told tales of how fierce the dragons from Terragi were. Every hushed conversation was a stab in the chest.

  Though my limp slowed me down, I was able to avoid their eyes. When the sun rose, things would be different.

  I didn't like change.

  SLEEP DIDN'T VISIT me when I got back to my bed.

  Instead of slipping away into darkness, what I had endured at the hands of the Astraphotians came back to me in vivid detail. I could feel the coarse ropes around my wrists, the blood in my mouth from the lightning strike, even how dry the air had tasted. Just hearing the Headmaster talk about them was enough to take me back to that place.

  Thoughts of Avek popped into my mind too, accompanied by an ache in my chest. If there was anyone who could help me understand how I was feeling—it would be him. Right now, he felt like the only human who could relate to me.

  In the meager sunlight just before sunrise, Solra and Irikai joined the foray of thoughts. When would they learn about the war? No doubt, the Headmaster had chosen to speak to us first. What would he tell them? Would he give them as much details as he gave us? What would he do with the cadets? Would he force them into expedited training too? Would they be sent into the field despite their weak Fusion Bonds?

  I shook my head, trying to dislodge the flurry of thoughts. When the sun finally rose, I went through the motions to get ready for the day.

  But I was far away.

  In the yard, Ignimitra met me with expectancy in her eyes.

  How are you feeling? she asked as I limped over to her.

  My leg was getting better, but at a painfully slow rate. It was frustrating how slow I healed sometimes.

  I couldn't sleep after what the Headmaster announced.

  I slumped my shoulders, leaning against her thick neck.

  Hm, she said, mulling over my words. What disturbed you about what he said?

  Her question shone a spotlight on something I felt like keeping hidden. But that wouldn't do me much good when Ignimitra was privy to the majority of my thoughts. I fought the impulse to shut the conversation down.

  I don't feel ready for what will be asked of us.

  Were you ready when the Astraphotians captured us?

  No.

  But we survived.

  And we almost lost Avek. I'm not sure I can go through losing someone close to me again, Ignimitra. It was three dumb Astraphotians that time. I don’t think we’ll have the same luck in actual military action.

  She laughed, and it only made me feel a spark of anger.

  What's so funny?

  You are. She turned to face me, her amethyst eyes boring holes into me. You are of two hearts. You want to avenge without the consequences, and you want to train to be a killer without actually killing.

  I could never like killing, I retorted.

  Then how will you protect the ones you love? Sometimes it must be done.

  I didn't know what to say to her, to that. Her words rang true. Confusing, but true. My meagre sleep was messing with my mind. There was no time to sort through the way what she said made me feel.

  I could think about it another time when we weren’t staring down a world war.

  As much as I wanted to hide in bed, getting breakfast in the mess hall was imperative. It was the only way to see what the general consensus was among the other soldiers. Eavesdropping was the only way I could get their thoughts, and at breakfast was the easiest way to do it inconspicuously.

  After bringing Ignimitra her charcoal, I found an empty seat at one of the tables.

  The mess hall in the Administrative District was a large stonework building with vaulted ceilings and louvered floor-to-ceiling windows. There were dozens of eight-seater mahogany tables arranged in rows on the gold-veined marble floors. The tables and chairs were draped in exquisite red fabric, emblazoned with a gold dragon guard crest. Every crevice of the place oozed opulence—from the potted flowering willows and bouquets of flowers in every corner to the water feature in the center of the room. Meals were plated and served here, unlike the mess hall in the Academy District.

  I hadn't been sitting for long when the empty seat beside me was filled.

  Instinctively, I tensed. A familiar set of viridian eyes met mine. Jules.

  "Kaos," she greeted me with a subdued smile.

  One of the women from the kitchen appeared then, bearing two steaming plates of breakfast. She set a meal in front of us both, then disappeared. It was almost as if she was running away—she didn't even stay long enough for me to thank her.

  My stomach lurched to life at the smell of the food. I put away a few heaping mouthfuls of lamb pie before I remembered Jules beside me. She seemed just as hungry.

  "Were you at the assembly last night?" I asked.

  She pulled a smile. "Of course. There’s no sleeping through that damn bell.”

  I shrugged, itching with the need for more information. The conversation in the hall was nowhere as lively as I expected it to be. In fact, it was emptier than it should have been, and that prickled my skin.

  "Have you already gotten your assignment?" I pressed.

  Jules was like Avek, rarely forthcoming with informat
ion. But when you asked her the right questions, she was a treasure trove.

  She nodded, raising the plate to shovel some rice into her mouth. "My team and I got stationed on the mountain."

  I quirked an eyebrow. "This mountain?"

  "Yep," she popped the 'p.' "Not the most exciting thing, I know."

  "I thought all the soldiers were needed in the field."

  "This is part of the field" she seemed to have quelled the hungry troll in her stomach, for she was actually talking to me more than eating now. "If they make it through our airspace, this is where they're going to come first."

  I mulled over her words. The Dragon Academy housed Pyralis’ best and most dangerous, elite members of the Dragon Guard. Before this, I had always thought of its location as an advantage—the highest point on an island meant that we could spot attacks from miles away. Now I was starting to question that. There was enough water around to fuel Lightning Dragon storms, and I had heard stories of Earth Dragons forcing volcanic eruptions. The entire Academy was nestled in one.

  "Why wouldn't they attack the Fire Drakken's Royal Grounds first?" Empires were toppled from the ground up. Why come here?

  Jules looked at me like I had grown another head.

  "It's nestled too deep in the mainland," she countered. "The Fire Drakken would escape before they managed to break through. Since the attack on Fire Star, the guard in the Royal City has tripled. She leaned in closer before she spoke again. "And the Headmaster is the real prize."

  I wrinkled an eyebrow at her, leaning forward too.

  "Prize?"

  Her eyes widened momentarily, before her mask became unreadable again. “You’re so close to Avek, I figured you knew."

  Her words stung for some reason. Was she alluding to Avek hiding something from me? Or was she rubbing it in that she knew him better than me? I had to consciously dial back the anger razing my thoughts.

  "I knew what?”

  "Ask him when you see him," she refocused her attention on the food, locking me back out of her ice kingdom.

  I was left with more questions than when the conversation started. There was no way that I’d let her slip away from me so easily though. If she didn’t want to talk about that, there was something else on my mind.

  "If you can't talk to me about that, talk to me about the Dragon Duel," I ventured. "You ran off before you could tell what you were thinking.”

  Jules held her head back to laugh, drawing the eyes of the soldiers a few tables over. It was a dry, mirthless laugh that made me grind my teeth.

  “I don’t have anything else to tell you,” she shrugged. “I don’t have the privilege of telling you most of what I think. I’m a Dragon Guard soldier.”

  Silence stretched between us. Her refrain was something I had heard from Avek too, even from Betheka. The mountain had eyes and ears. Maybe in a less public place she would’ve been more forthcoming.

  Jules and I spent the rest of breakfast locked in mundane conversation—how the food tasted, what we expected the outcome of the war to be. But deep down, the superficiality of it all was burning a hole through my chest.

  Chapter 7

  After breakfast, Ignimitra and I split up for training.

  Ever since we moved to the top of the mountain, we no longer exclusively trained together. Without Ignimitra, I felt exposed. It was just me against the soldiers who wanted to see me buckle under the pressure of training. Throw in my injured leg, and I was the perfect picture of vulnerability.

  Our training session should have been simple enough—swim the breadth of a roaring rapid with weights strapped to your body—but my injury put me at a distinct disadvantage. When my limp was pointed out by one of the soldiers, the instructor gave me more weights to swim with. In that moment I would have appreciated Cuinn, but this cohort wasn’t his.

  All of this made for an embarrassing class.

  Swimming was one of my strengths. I had learned to swim before I could walk—it was one of the perks of living in the island paradise of Pyralis—but my leg set me back more than I expected.

  Whoever said that everything was the same weight in water never had to swim through a rapid with three one-hundred-pound weights strapped to them while nursing a healing leg.

  It was torturous.

  I almost drowned. Twice.

  I was the last to make it across, making me the butt of yet another joke. The instructor didn’t reprimand them for their jeers, instead he chose to remind me that failure to get my act together would get me kicked out of the Academy.

  His threat sounded empty knowing what I did. They needed me, even with one and half legs. More soldiers meant more chances on the battlefield. Knowing that they would’ve kept me even if I failed didn’t help my bruised ego. I had the world stacked against me.

  When I got back home, I learned that Ignimitra’s day was just as bad as mine.

  She lay under the big tree in the corner of the yard, munching idly on some berries. I was sprawled across her back, looking up at the cloudy sky through the sparse leaves, ignoring the pins and needles in my leg.

  I hated every minute of it.

  What did it feel like?

  I don't know what the word is for that feeling, she huffed. But I didn't feel the way I usually did. I felt weak...on the inside. It was like I could still fly and breathe fire, but none of it seemed to matter.

  As of late, our training often felt like a thinly veiled attempt at eradicating our self-esteem. It was draining.

  Maybe it was always like this, I mused. We just never realized because we were so advanced.

  But now, we are behind. What they ask of us is too much.

  I nodded slowly. Yes. It is too much. Too hard.

  Maybe this is what he wanted.

  I knew who she spoke of. There was only one villain in our story.

  Maybe, I agreed. But we shouldn't give him the satisfaction of winning.

  Her head bopped. He doesn't deserve to win.

  Many people believe in us. Betheka, Avek...Hakan, he flashed into my thoughts like a bolt of lightning. I had been so caught up in everything that I hadn't even gotten around to penning him a letter. I still needed to do that.

  Cuinn believes in us too.

  I scoffed. Cuinn? That's debatable. You only like him because he brought you food.

  Isn’t that a reliable way to judge someone’s character? He was never late.

  Laughter erupted from me. Ignimitra was completely serious, and that made it funnier.

  That's probably the worst way to, angel. If it hadn't been Cuinn, it would have been someone else. Betheka only asked him because he was there.

  She snorted, thick plumes of ash shooting from her nostrils. I still like him.

  I still don't. But if you think he believes in us, that counts as...something. I shrugged, rolling over to rest my head against her warm scales.

  Our only choice is to pass.

  Truer words had never been spoken. An idea flickered into my mind then.

  Do you remember what we did the last time we were falling behind in our training?

  Ignimitra was silent, until a light bulb lit up over her head.

  We trained on our own.

  Exactly. We should keep doing that.

  I agree.

  We spent the next few hours deciding on our course of action.

  MY HOUSE IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE District had almost everything I needed. There wasn't a single scrap of paper or a pen in the entire house. I had no choice but to buy some—and some envelopes while I was at it—if I actually wanted to send Hakan that letter.

  It was late evening when I ventured outside to find the papermaker. It was a gamble—what was the demand for paper and ink this late in the evening? If the shop was closed, my plans would have to be shelved for another day.

  The streets of the Administrative District felt like a ghost town. Usually, the smell of food and ale would've been all around. Soldiers and villagers alike would be clustered in inns and
taverns, drinking and eating, dancing to rowdy music. Instead, for most of the journey along the brickwork road, I didn't encounter another soldier. Most of the shops were closed. It was all so eerie.

  I caught the papermaker just as they were about to close, and bought enough paper, ink and envelopes for a lifetime of letters to Hakan. I had been thinking of what to say to him the entire walk. Yet, when I settled in front of the writing desk in my bedroom, all my words left me.

  It had been almost a year since I'd last seen him, but he deserved to hear from me. He had helped raise me into the woman I was today. He was important to me. Thinking of that helped me break the wall of feelings encircling my thoughts.

  I put pen to paper.

  Dear Hakan,

  I'm sorry it took me this long to respond to your letter. Managing my schedule at the Academy is hard, so finding time was difficult. A lot happened since I got your letter, and even more since we last spoke.

  I’ll try to tell you everything I can. (I am hoping that we can catch up in person sometime soon, but the chances that I'll get enough time off to make the trip seem slim. Especially now, but I'll explain later.)

  Choosing where to start the story was particularly difficult. Every time I thought of something to write, I ended up changing my mind. It was almost an hour when I settled on something.

  Academy life is different from what I expected. Ignimitra and I have to be constantly growing to meet the new challenges. Speaking of growing, if you saw her now you wouldn’t recognize her. She's bigger than our house—even bigger than the dragons that came to our village the day I left. She is strong and kind, and I wouldn't have made it this far without her. Sure, I am her tamer, but Ignimitra is my protector.

  We even received a medal for our bravery. Our team was captured while on a mission, but Ignimitra and I were able to help them escape. I got promoted because of that. As of right now, we're provisionally accepted into active duty. We should have three months of training left before we actually head into the field.

  Hakan would only worry if I got into more detail.

  The letter you gave me when I left the village was helpful, and opened my eyes to many things. I have found support here at the Academy, just like the letter said I would. When we meet in person, we have much to discuss. Even though it’s so hard here, we have to succeed. History leaves me no other option.