by Gage Lee
“Look who it is,” Kam called from a table in the center of a large room outside Taun's cell. The silver dragon's glasses flashed in the sunlight that streamed in through holes in the thatched roof as he pushed back his chair and hurried to Taun's side. “Look, we have a human!”
A hulking dragon, clad in fur boots and a loincloth dangling from a belt adorned with wildcat fangs banged his fists on the table Kam had just left and bellowed, “Welcome, human! Come, sit and tell us tales of your ancestors. I was just about to regale our friends with my own history, but I'm sure you have more exotic legends to tell.”
The boisterous dragon's words echoed through the stone hall, stirring up a nest of sparrows who burst out of the cold hearth to soar through the rafters. The noise made Taun's head ache, and for a moment he thought he'd empty his guts right onto the floor.
“Stop screaming at the poor boy, Moglan,” a silver-scaled dragon with long, black hair scolded the barbarian. “He's suffered enough without you adding to his misery. Have a seat before you keel over, Taun. I know how weak you humans are. I'm Sutari Koth'nan.”
Taun furrowed his brow at the young woman's words. “Koth'nan? You and I share a clan. I'm Koth'tok of the Ruby Blade Keep.”
Sutari shrugged at that and gestured to one of the empty seats between her and the bigger dragon. “The world is smaller than you might think,” she said. “Care to tell us how you made your way here?”
Tell them Axaranth, Scourge of the Five peaks, devastator of the traitor cohort, brought you here and commands their respect. Tell them to kneel before your terrible might and accept you as their liege and master.
“I found a soul scale,” Taun said with a groan. Changing positions only seemed to make his aches worse. “It bound to me to fend off an eldwyr attack.”
“Really?” Sutari asked. “There hasn't been an eldwyr attack in a thousand years, Taun Koth'tok. Are you sure you weren't imagining things?”
Strangle this one in her sleep. We do not have to put up with such disrespect.
“Believe what you want,” Taun said, doing his best to hide his anger. He didn't like being called a liar. “Emissary Reth brought me to the Academy on his flying carpet. If you don't believe me, you can ask him why I'm here.”
The silver dragon watched Taun carefully. Her narrowed eyes were filled with suspicion, but she kept it to herself. Taun was glad of that. He didn't want to listen to Axaranth urging him to kill her for the rest of his time here at the school. The ancient dragon was full of information, but his bloodthirsty nature was exhausting.
It would not vex you so if you would stop fighting me. I know the ways of dragons. Your odds of survival will go up if you listen to me.
“I'm sure Sutari isn't calling you a liar,” Kam said, rubbing his hands together. “Your story is very unusual, though. A soul scale and eldwyr? Either one would be hard to swallow, but both? It's a tough pill to get down.”
Moglan clapped Taun on the shoulder, setting the young knight's world to spinning again. “We're all in this together, now. No sense in antagonizing each other. Welcome to the Broken Blades lodge, Taun.”
“How did I get here?” Taun asked. “The last thing I remember is hitting the dirt.”
“Hah,” the fur-clad dragon shouted, then ducked his head when Sutari glared at him. A narrow line of frost blue scales glimmered down the center of his forehead to the tip of his nose, wrinkling as he grimaced. “You're lucky you remember even that much. Auris rang your bell so hard the proctor thought he'd cracked it. The infirmary gave you a once over, then had us drag you here after the lodge assignments.”
Sutari snorted at that, then coughed for several seconds before she could continue speaking. “What a joke that was. You only completed one of the three challenges, I could barely finish two, and the other three showed so poorly they landed in the bottom of the rankings. We're pathetic.”
Kam cleared his throat and adjusted his spectacles. “I actually scored higher than the rest of you, thanks to my performance in the first challenge. If I'd drawn a knowledge challenge instead of a combat challenge, I'd have beat you all.”
“Yes, well,” Sutari grumbled, “if I wasn't suffering from this lungcrud, I'd have placed in the top tier rather than the bottom.”
The big dragon stood up from the table and clapped his hands together. The sound echoed through the dingy lodge with such force it made the rest of them wince. “The challenges are what the spirits will. There's a reason you drew the lots you did, just as there's a reason I pulled two duels.”
Up close, the dragon was even bigger than Taun had originally thought. He towered over the other dragons and his imposing stature made Taun feel like a child in comparison. “You had trouble with a combat challenge?” the knight asked with disbelief.
“I'm a shaman,” the behemoth of a dragon explained. He dropped into a seat next to Taun, and the human was sure he felt the ground quake. “I've sworn to protect and heal other dragons, not crush them for sport.”
“You could pull your punches,” Sutari offered.
“I used to think that,” the shaman said with a hearty laugh. “Sometimes it even works. But one time I misjudged and my cousin spent the next week at the healer's hut. They put him back together, but I will never forget the look on his face as he fell...”
Kam nodded his head vigorously. “Moglan's got the right idea. Fighting solves nothing, and it just plays into the hands of bullies like the golds. Auris had the best training money could buy. It's not fair that he can duel his way to the top of the Glory Chase.”
A shadowy figure emerged from the gloom at the back of the lodge. It glided toward them, lithe and limber, and stopped just outside the beam of sunlight that illuminated the rough wooden table where the others sat. “Life is not fair, occultist. The Academy is proof of that. The rich and powerful will become more rich and powerful, while the rest of us fight over the scraps that fall from their jaws. Such is the way of our world.”
The sharpness in the newcomer's voice riveted Taun. She was slender, but imposing. An aura of danger and mystery surrounded the dragon, deeper than the shadows that cloaked her. “You're the fifth member of our lodge?”
“Unfortunately,” Kam said, glowering at her. “She wasn't even allowed to take part in the placement challenges, so her score is even lower than yours, Taun.”
“She's lucky they let her out of her cage,” Sutari added. “This is a big year for firsts here at the Academy. We got a human and a criminal. Such luck they're both in my lodge.”
Moglan chuckled at that. “You two should give her a chance. Come, Lira, sit with us. There's nothing to be gained from hiding in the shadows.”
The cloaked dragon didn't move for a moment. Her shoulders twitched a bit, like a dog who expected a beating. Then she straightened her spine, pushed her hood back, revealing short, dark hair and a diamond-shaped pattern of bone white scales just below her widow’s peak, and strode up to the table. Tension held her body rigid under the curious eyes of the other lodge members. She sat in the empty chair between Kam and Sutari, her hands in her lap. “Thank you, shaman,” she said. “At least you have manners.”
Sutari's hands clenched into fists. Her knuckles crackled like dry twigs in a fire. “Do not dare to insult me, slave.”
Kam gulped audibly at the insult, and Moglan reached across the table to put a hand between the bickering dragons. “We are all members of the same lodge.”
Sutari pushed back from the table and stomped away from the others. “Not by my choice,” she exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. “If this is what the spirits wanted for me, then I must've done something horrible in a past life.”
Do something before your allies come to blows. They need a leader.
Taun had no idea what Axaranth expected him to do. Dragons wouldn't listen to a human at the best of times, and this was far from that. But the ancient dragon was right. If the rift in his lodge deepened, Taun was doomed to stay at the bottom of the glory Chas
e. He'd spend the rest of the year in this dingy hole if he didn't pull his team together.
“None of us wants to be in this position,” he said, raising his voice to make sure that Sutari heard him. “I should be home with my family, protecting our keep from the eldwyr. I'm sure the rest of you had dreams of what this year would bring, and this isn't it. But this squabbling doesn't help anything. We must work together—”
Lira snickered at that. She clapped her hands together as if Taun had just told a hilarious joke. “You're human. I'm a slave. You think these three will ever respect us enough to call us ally?”
It was Taun's turn to get up from the table. He stood behind Kam and put his hands on the dragon's shoulders. “Whatever we were before we got here, now we're members of the same lodge. If we don't support each other, if we don't have one another's backs, then we've already lost the Glory Chase.”
Sutari leaned against a wall below a narrow slit of a window, her arms crossed over her chest, chin held defiantly high. “You were scarcely out of your first challenge before Auris set you up for a duel you couldn't win. Your head will ring for days from the clocking he gave you. What does that tell you about whether or not you've already lost, human?”
Kam tilted his head to look up at Taun, his eyes sorrowful. “She has a point, Taun. We can't win the Glory Chase against lodges full of noble golds and wealthy silvers. Auris and his kind have all the advantages. The best we can hope for is to survive the year. Maybe we can earn enough Glory for readmission and try again next year.”
Taun paced the room for a moment, aware of all the eyes on him. He could have used advice from Axaranth, but the ancient dragon was silent. Maybe that was for the best. It probably would've wanted Taun to kill one of his lodge members to establish dominance.
That would get their attention.
But the young knight had a different idea. “I didn't come here to survive,” he said. “I came because my family needs me to discover a solution to our problems. This isn't about some silly contest, for me, but if it is for you, then pay attention. The Glory Chase is the ladder, and my foot is already on the first rung. Work with me, and we will climb it together.”
The other dragons said nothing. Sutari watched him with sullen eyes, her lips pursed together in a thin line. Kam wouldn't look at him at all, and Lira shrank into herself, her eyes on the table in front of her. Only Moglan seemed to take Taun seriously at all, and even he looked uncertain that the human could make good on his promise.
“If we can't beat them, what's the point?” Moglan asked.
“We can't beat them, now,” Taun agreed. “But if we spend our Glory the right way, the odds will tilt in our favor. If we upgrade our lodge and get Sutari out of this damp hole, her lungcrud will clear up. She'll be stronger than anyone can imagine, then. With the right materials and access to a forge, I'll build us weapons and armor to even the odds in duels. We're at the bottom now, but that only means the others will underestimate us. By the time they realize what a mistake that was, we'll be too powerful to stop.”
As Taun spoke, he felt a strange sensation unfurl from the scale embedded in his chest. For a moment, he thought Axaranth was about to speak, but the dragon remained silent. A warmth spread through Taun, and he recognized the unspoken emotion.
The dragon was proud of him.
“The metal element marked me as an occultist,” Kam admitted. “With the right supplies, and some more training, I can create infusions and pills that will help us. It's not much, but it's a start.”
Taun saw a glimmer of hope in Lira's eyes as she raised them to meet his. “You're the only one who sees anything but a slave when they look at me,” she said. “I will do whatever I can to help you. Don't let me down.”
The weight of those four words settled on Taun's shoulders. He knew the dragons were not kind to their slaves, and he couldn't imagine how hard Lira's life had been. She might've been taken in a battle between clans, or as an orphan, or even a criminal as Sutari claimed. Whatever the case, her masters had never let Lira forget her position. Hope wouldn't come easy for her, Taun knew, and it might never come again if he broke her trust.
“I will do whatever I can,” he said. “If you're all with me, we can do this.”
“There are herbs that will treat Sutari's illness,” Moglan said quietly. “If the spirits will it, I will heal her.”
The silver dragon looked at her four lodge members with what might have been disdain. Taun knew that they needed her, and he held his breath while he waited for her to speak. She said nothing until he thought his lungs would burst, then she chuckled and shook her head.
“This is insane,” she said, “and you all know it. The five of us are the worst dragons in the Academy. We have to be crazy to think a human will improve our lot.”
Taun's heart sank. He was about to say something else when Sutari continued.
“But the fact that the school let a prisoner and a human join its ranks means that the world is crazier than any of us ever thought,” she said. “Fine, Taun. Maybe your plan is what you need. But if you lead us astray, I will personally tear you limb from limb.”
The human let out a sigh of relief, and tried to hide his shock at Sutari's words. He'd been so sure that she would shoot the plan down and spend the rest of the year criticizing everything he did. She might still do that, but at least she was willing to listen to him for the moment.
That might prove to be a mistake. All the young knight had to his name was ten Glory, a quick wit, and a sharp tongue that had gotten him into trouble more than once.
“All right, fearless leader,” Kam said with a grin. “Let's hear your plan. I hope it's full of exciting ways to get us all beaten to a bloody pulp.”
They all laughed at that, and Taun's smile lit up the room.
He'd woken up feeling miserable, but now there was light at the end of the tunnel.
All he had to do was lead these dragons to it.
And hope no one killed him along the way.
Taun and the rest of the Broken Blades spent the rest of the night pitching ideas back and forth, laughing at plans that obviously wouldn't work and dredging up others that just might. Their rivals had all the advantages: money, power, strength. But Taun and his allies had wits and grit. If they played their cards wisely, they could earn enough Glory to upgrade their dwelling. That was what they had to focus on.
Food would be next. Because if Taun had to spend the rest of the year eating the gruel that passed for food in this lodge, he would either go insane or slowly starve to death.
He thought about that in his cell later that night, staring up at the stars through a gap in the thatched ceiling. His family was out there, looking up at the same stars, waiting for him to return with answers to the problems that plagued the keep. Taun was not about to let them down. He'd drag his lodge up the ranks of the Glory Chase in his teeth if that's what it took to master the pneuma.
Your determination is admirable. But there is something you should know.
“What now?” Taun whispered to the darkness. He was exhausted and ached all over from the beating Auris had given him. All he wanted to do now was sleep.
I told you before that I was weakened from our battle with the eldwyr. I overextended myself to save us both. That weakened me.
“I already knew that,” Taun murmured. “And that's why you didn't help me at the first challenge.”
Yes. But now I am damaged. The gold's blow to your chest fractured the primary channels in the soul scale.
Taun had thought the ache in his chest was just bruises and stiff ribs. This news was far more alarming than being a little banged up. “What does that mean?” the knight asked, his voice low and urgent.
I cannot carry the load any further for you, man-child. I can offer advice and wisdom. But the power must come from within you.
The knight reached under his shirt and probed the scale with the tips of his fingers as he worried about the future. He felt the knurled edges
where the scale had bound to him, thick and twisted as scar tissue. But as he ventured toward the scale's center, he found jagged fissures that hadn't been there before. He'd promised his team that he'd lead them in the Glory Chase. But the power he needed to do that was gone, now. He was too weak to challenge dragons.
The path will be harder. That does not make it impossible. You are clever and I know secrets others have forgotten. Together, there is much we can accomplish.
Taun didn't answer the dragon. Wits and knowledge had gotten him this far in life, but the duel with Auris had taught him there was more to success than what lay between his ears. He needed power to stand up to the dragons. Somehow, some way, he had to reclaim Axaranth's strength. Because if the golds knew he was easy prey, Taun's life at the Academy would become an unbearable series of lopsided challenges.
That thought troubled Taun as he struggled to find sleep, and haunted his nightmares until dawn's light woke him the next morning.
Chapter 8
NOT LONG AFTER DAWN it became clear that the combination of drafty cold and hunger would no longer let Taun even pretend to sleep. The young knight sat up, his back stiff from sleeping on the stone slab, and took a quick mental inventory of his injuries. His head still throbbed from Auris's knockout punch. The pain in his chest had receded a bit, though it was far from gone. His ribs ached a bit, but that was something Taun found he could ignore. Satisfied he was healing, Taun forced himself to get off the horrible excuse for a bed and walked through the calisthenics his father had taught him. That worked some of the stiffness out of his muscles and got his blood pumping. Unfortunately, the relief in other areas only highlighted the persistent headache that dogged him.
We will train your core. It will help you heal faster. Now, go eat your gruel and don't whine about it. Your first class starts soon.
Taun stoked the fire in the small stove that also served as the drafty lodge's only heater. He warmed his hands over its black top, then put on a pot of water. While it heated to boiling, the young knight paced the lodge's main hall, greeting his allies as they woke from their own slumbers. By the time Sutari had dragged herself out of bed, coughing and wheezing, Taun had piping hot bowls of gruel ready for the team. They ate in silence, all of them still weary from the cold night's uneasy rest, then headed out for class with Kam leading the way.
