by Simon Archer
“It won’t let you in,” she replied, walking fast to catch up with me. “It won’t let you within ten feet.”
“What do you mean, ‘it’?” I found it strange that she was referring to a formation in nature as though it had some sort of personality.
“Blake! Stop!” she yelled.
I turned around and saw fear and frustration on her face, so I stopped. Walking the few paces back to her, I put my hands on her shoulders. I suddenly felt guilty for not listening to her because she was obviously worried about something.
“That is where the Healing dragon used to live,” she said as she stared up at me and waited for me to understand.
I thought back to my conversation with Gale about the Healing dragon, and how it had been missing for years. That, of course, was why the town thought girls were drowning more frequently. They knew the health of the realm was decreasing without the dragon’s magic fire to cook their yearly offering.
That wasn’t what Deyla was referring to, however. Gale had told me that the opening to the cave was spelled with some sort of fire magic that wouldn’t let anybody in, but nobody knew why. She had also said that it just didn’t make sense because Cadia, the dragon, couldn’t be inside because she would’ve starved to death by now. That meant that there must be something else the cave was hiding.
“So, you think it might fry me to a crisp if I get too close,” I told Deyla.
She nodded, sighing with relief.
I realized quickly that she took my understanding as a sign that I wouldn’t go near the cave, but that wasn’t the case at all. I wanted to get even closer. I wanted to see the fire that everybody spoke with fear about.
After all, I could control fire, and nobody else could. I didn’t see a reason I couldn’t try to control the fire that comes out of the cave. I looked back at it and then down at Deyla.
“I will be just fine. I need to see what the challenge is, though. I may be the only one that can get inside. I know you weren’t in the testing room when it happened, but I could deal with fire to the point of my body starting to smoke without any pain, burning, or even discomfort. Fire is in me. I can feel it. I even think I could create it if I tried hard enough.”
Her eyes drooped a little. She knew she wasn’t going to change my mind, and I appreciated seeing that she wasn’t going to argue with me.
I let go of Deyla and turned back to the cave. I went to the table and looked around. The top was covered in elaborately carved serving platters, bowls, and silverware. Flies buzzed around the plates still filled with the remains of various foodstuffs.
In fact, the entire table was full of rotten and shriveled food. There were multiple centerpieces blackened like they’d been scorched and shaped to look like flames. Looking closer, I saw that the centerpieces were actually anchored to the tables, and a small bit of brass showed through the char at the bottom. They had indeed been burnt at some point. Interesting, because the rest of the table was made of wood and was in perfect condition, meaning it hadn’t been exposed to fire. Deyla joined me, so I looked at her and raised a brow.
“Why isn’t the table burnt when the anchored centerpieces are charred?” I asked her.
“Because Cadia can control her fire with that much precision. We could pile the table high with food, and she would breathe fire over it, but she could make the bottom of her breath flatten out so that none of the plates or the table got scorched. Our people kept bringing the yearly feast, on the off chance that she would return to us. When she didn’t, the food was left here. As you can kind of see, the food here isn’t cooked.” Deyla walked down to the plate seven spaces away from me. “This used to be my place to feast.”
There was a total of thirty place settings spread across the table which didn’t make sense to me. “Where did everybody else sit? There aren’t nearly enough places here for the entire town.”
“The leaders and officials of the town, and their children sat up at the table when the feast began. The rest of the town set up portable tables and chairs and could eat there, or anyone allowed to occupy an empty seat at the table once a leader finished and vacated it.” Deyla lifted her leg and stepped over the bench in front of the table, then sat down.
“Did anyone ever get upset that they couldn’t sit at the table?” I asked. That kind of rule where I came from would’ve been met with all sorts of whining about equal rights and class discrimination.
“There was only one person I remember hearing about getting upset, but that was many years before my time. The story was that she thought she should’ve been considered a leader because she felt she had significantly higher magical abilities than other Warriors. That, however, wasn’t the case. She was reckless with her magic. She would try to mix spells and potions with the sole purpose of making them more lethal. She also spent time fashioning traps that she claimed were for hunting, but they inevitably ended up catching smaller dragons who didn’t know what to watch out for. None of that is the way of our people. Unfortunately, she had a dark heart, but again, that was a very long time ago.” Deyla’s eyes glazed as she recalled the story.
“What happened to her?” I knew Gale had lived a long time, which made me wonder if the girl had too.
“We banned her eventually. She headed off to the south, and that is all I know. We never heard from her again. Poor Gadlina. Even though I didn’t know her, I feel if someone just could’ve gotten through to her, she wouldn’t have turned so angry and bitter,” Deyla replied, sincere regret in her voice.
“You have such a pure heart to say something like that,” I told her. I truly did admire her deep caring for a sister of her people.
“Thank you. Now, can we go?” she asked, standing from her spot at the table.
“No. I’m going to see what the fire at the mouth of the cave is all about.” I knew she wanted me to forget my plan, but there was no way I could.
“If that’s still the case, I’ll show you the flame radius,” she agreed, surprisingly.
Deyla rounded the far end of the table, and I walked around my side. We met in front of the cave and moved forward until we were three yards from its dark opening. Deyla motioned towards the ground. Only one yard ahead was a line where the dirt ended and blackened stone began.
“The flames from the cave end there. The force from them has blown the dirt back, and it has just stayed that way,” she told me.
“So, all it takes is walking over that line, and the cranky cave will try to toast me like a marshmallow?” I wanted to lighten her mood.
“Exactly,” she replied, grinning slightly.
“Alright, well, you stand back, and I’m going to get a dose of these flames to see what I’m dealing with.” She backed up a good five yards, and I heard her suck in her breath to hold.
I walked right up to the line where dirt met stone and stared into the mouth of the cave. It was unnaturally dark. There was no transition from grey to black like you normally saw in a cave blocked off from the light.
Instead, it was just a solid wall of the blackest black I’d ever seen. A small shiver of anticipation ran down the back of my neck at the thought of taking on the wrath of an unknown fire spell, but it mixed with a healthy dose of fear as well.
I always believed the dangerous things in the world should inspire a good amount of respect as to their abilities to jack you up. I also got a familiar chill, but I couldn’t place where I’d felt it before. It was like the feeling you get when you think about something horrific.
There wasn’t a reason to wait any longer. I took a deep breath and stepped over the line. The moment both feet stood on stone, a blue light appeared in the center of the blackness. It was brightly glowing and spread to fill the circumference of the cave in a matter of seconds. Then blue flames tipped with white, shot out of the cave directly towards me. The wall of fire flying at me was so much larger than I’d expected that my heart jumped to my throat as my body felt the intensity of the heat. I jumped back over the line of dirt and
covered my face with my hands, not entirely convinced the flames would end at that barrier.
Flashes of blue and white hurled my way, but when they reached the border, it looked as if they’d hit an invisible wall. They flattened like they were burning up a wall instead of trying to fry me. One after another, waves of fire smashed through where I had been standing just moments before. I felt a pang of relief when they finally thinned out and disappeared, but I wanted to see it again. I glanced back to Deyla, my eyes wide.
“You all weren’t kidding when you said the damn cave tries to kill people, were you!” I turned back towards the cave and picked up my foot to step over the line again.
“NO!” Deyla screamed as my bodyweight shifted forward to cross the line.
She bolted towards me, grabbing my arm and pulling me back just before I crossed the line. She yanked so hard I fell backward. Right as I did so, a fireball bolted out of the cave, directly at me. It was huge and swirling with orange and blue flames just waiting to barbeque me. It hit the invisible barrier in front of me within a split second and blew up. It had been traveling so fast that the impact into the barrier created wind that whipped back and blew out a lot of the flames.
I stared at the spot I would be standing if Deyla hadn’t saved me, my mind seeing my charred corpse, and I was having difficulty breathing for a few seconds. I did finally catch my breath and look back at Deyla.
“It’s the fireball that kills people, not the initial flames, isn’t it?” I took the blue flames to be similar to a tripwire that had a delayed fuse that lit the fireball.
“Both have killed, but yes, the fireball makes certain nobody survives. I told you it was dangerous.” She had relief and anger in her eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the fireball in the first place?” I stood up and brushed myself off.
“I thought you already knew, that Gale had told you,” she replied sharply. “It seemed like something you’d make sure to know before you walked right in.”
“That would’ve been nice, I agree,” I told her, keeping my tone light. I wasn’t hurt, so there was no reason for her to be angry. “Let’s go.”
“You want to go?” Deyla was surprised. “I would’ve guessed you’d want to manipulate the fire.”
“Everything in my adventurous mind wants to, but I realized something. I’ve never worked with blue flames. They are much hotter, and I think it best to practice before I give them a go,” I replied.
The moment I finished speaking, a white spark bounced from one of the blackened-in circles on my arm. Left in its place was a white star symbol. Somehow, I just knew that I’d made a smart decision and had been rewarded for it.
Smiling about my progress, Deyla and I returned to our dragons and mounted up. I was proud of Victoria for her service to me that day, so I decided to make the flight back to the school a leisurely one and just connect with her. She was happy as well. Evie and Deyla flew beside us as the sun dipped lower with every minute. An idea occurred to me, and I whistled to get Deyla’s attention. She looked over and smiled. She finally seemed relaxed.
“Do we have any dragons that breathe blue fire? I’ve really only seen a few breathe fire at all,” I asked. She began to laugh.
“Yeah, we have a dragon that can breathe blue fire,” she started between giggles. “You’re sitting on her!”
A bolt of excitement shot through me. I squeezed my legs around Victoria as if to hug her for her abilities. She turned her head to the side, away from Deyla and Evie, opened her mouth, and blew fire out of her mouth so forcefully, the flames spread out twenty feet. At first, they were orange, like I would expect of a dragon. However, after that initial burst of orange, her flames turned a bright blue, and the tips turned white. The heat was nearly blistering as it passed by my leg. I leaned forward and patted her on the neck.
“You and I are going to have some fun tomorrow,” I said just loud enough so she could hear it.
28
Gadlina
I hadn’t been this angry in years. Hearing the Dragon Whisperer and the Dragonmancer talk about me like I was some degenerate, second-rate woman who couldn’t cut it as a Warrior, or even a Ponathian made my face glow red as my blood heated up with rage. It took everything in me not to come down from my vantage point and rip both their heads off, but in the end, I could control myself. My plan was much bigger than just revenge on two shit-talking idiots.
It had been a very long time since anyone visited the cave, so my men, slaves, and I were nearly discovered. Luckily, we were able to get our camp broken down and hidden using an emergency protocol, and a bit of camouflage magic. Then we had all scrambled on the top of the cave and flattened ourselves down. I had to use another camouflage spell to keep us from being seen when they were in flight but could lift it once they’d landed.
While I lay there, I thought of the things I’d learned over the past few days. First of all, the Dragonmancer was different from the ones before him. He was more powerful and talented, which was decidedly inconvenient for me. I assumed his extended period of time inside the Academy had been for training. I had expected chaos and fear when I had my men wound the young dragon, but instead, the Dragonmancer simply healed her.
While my efforts hadn’t gotten the exact reaction I wanted, the information I gathered about the Dragonmancer’s abilities would be invaluable very soon. I felt fortunate to have also overheard Deyla and the Dragonmancer mention something about him having a talent for fire. I’m not sure what that could’ve meant exactly, but it was good to know in order to be certain not to rely on fire alone to protect my secret.
I had been traveling for so long after my banishment from Blenwise that I finally just stopped. I made up my mind shortly after passing through a tiny village of Wanderers.
I had snuck around the village, but it was difficult. Not because they were watchful, but because I could smell meat cooking, and bread baking, and I hadn’t eaten in days. I made the decision that day to join them. All they really wanted was inside information about Blenwise.
Their favorite pastime was to get drunk and talk about the great victory they were going to have over Blenwise when they attacked. I took part in that attack but quickly learned two things. First, they didn’t listen to anything I’d told them about the way the Warriors and Witnesses protected their homes. Second, they were only attacking in order to have a glory story to gloat about. None of them had any real motivation.
After returning to our village, I quickly packed my belongings and left. I only saw one person on my way out, and I told them I was going on an extended hunting trip. They didn’t question me, and I walked away, never to return again.
The failed attempt had spurred me into action on my own plan, however. The Wanderers were fighting for the wrong reasons and wanted instant gratification. I was willing to wait and plan and build until the timing was perfect for taking Blenwise down. Between then and now, I’d found ways to make the Warriors' and Witnesses’ lives worse with little things like kidnapping the girls at the river. The thought of the slaves I’d brought into my fold made me smile. Never again would I let a Ponathian treat me like I was any less than they were.
Once the two left, my soldiers and slaves fixed camp back to the way it was. Now that the curious Dragonmancer had gotten his official tour, I didn’t expect anyone back for quite some time. That didn’t mean we wouldn’t be on a twenty-four-hour lookout. It simply meant that I could push down some anxiety about being discovered every minute of every day. After long periods of time without anyone coming to the mountain, that feeling always grew more intense.
I stood on top of the cave while things were being reset and watched the two visitors fly away. Until just this morning, the timing of my plan to starve the region of its health until I could overthrow it easily concerned me.
However, I was informed of a development that put a smile on my face that luckily nobody saw. Within the next twenty-four hours, the next phase of my plan would be complete,
and then I’d really be able to relax.
Until then, I planned on drinking in celebration of being more clever, stealthier, and more cunning than any of the puny Ponathians in the city below. As I watched the Dragonmancer’s dragon breathe blue fire while they flew away, I laughed out loud. Nothing in the realm was going to beat what I had planned.
29
I woke up in my bed, not having any idea what time it was the following day. I hadn’t realized how worn down my training had made me, so when Deyla and I returned to the Academy, I had crashed out immediately even though the sun had just gone down.
I looked around the room, located the clock on the wall, and bolted out of bed. I’d slept for over twelve hours. It wasn’t the fact that I needed rest that bothered me. It was that I was more eager to get to Dragon rock than I had been to get anywhere else since falling through the portal into Blenwise.
My plan for the day was to take Victoria to Dragon rock and work with her blue flames until I learned how to control them. I hadn’t mentioned to anyone that I was going and therefore wanted to sneak out early, but that was no longer an option. I wouldn’t have minded telling anyone, and I was sure to see Deyla there, but my concern would be that Heather would want to supervise my practice and want me to stop at the first sign of new development. I didn’t have time for that nonsense.
I showered quickly, got dressed, and went to the meal hall to eat. The place was almost completely empty, which made breakfast quick. The entire time I was eating, I expected Gale to walk it at any moment, but she never did. By some stroke of luck, I managed to finish eating, make it to Victoria, and leave the Academy without any delay. It was the first time I’d gone anywhere unaccompanied, and it felt amazing.
Victoria and I flew out to Dragon rock at a leisurely pace, while I enjoyed the morning sun glistening off the landscape before me. When we arrived at the dragon circle, Prenna was there, relaxing in the heat. She was happy to see Victoria, and the two of them nudged each other in greeting. The field surrounding the Dragon circle had very low grass and even a couple of places that were strictly dirt. I decided that the field would be the perfect place for my practice.
