Scaled Soul (Dragon Academy Book 1)

by Gage Lee

  “I'll be okay,” Taun said with a smile. “I'll see you around.”

  The truth was, the young knight's head swam like he'd had too much wine at a feast. He had to put far too much effort into walking straight as he left the workshop, and it was a relief when he was outside and could lean against the wall. The fresh air helped clear his head, too, but it added more distractions as well. A bird's song entranced Taun for a moment, and he froze outside the tower and tilted his head back to catch the fading rays of the sun, one hand pressed flat against the building's side.

  What you did in there was impressive. It was also very foolish. The other dragons will see you as a threat.

  “That's fine with me,” Taun said. He headed back toward the lodge, his steps growing steadier moment by moment. “If they think I'm dangerous, they'll stop hassling me.”

  Axaranth's chuckle sent an icy chill through Taun. That is not how dragons deal with threats. They will scheme against you. And, when you least expect it, they will come for you.

  The dragon's sobering analysis cooled Taun's excitement at his accomplishment. The last thing he wanted was to goad Auris and the others into attacking him. They already hated the fact that a human had joined their precious school. They would not respond well when they learned he'd also advanced his core.

  “It's not like I can stop learning,” Taun grumbled. “I came here to figure out how to solve the Ruby Blade Keep's problem and warn the dragons of the eldwyr. If I abandon that, I might as well go home now and take you with me.”

  That is not an option. You are not the only one in danger, here. Until we repair the soul scale and we find a suitable host for my essence, we cannot leave the Celestial Academy. Perhaps we could keep a slightly lower profile, though.

  Taun wound his way through the campus, avoiding groups of dragons whenever he saw them, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. His head felt clearer now, but his senses were still painfully acute. It was as if advancing had stripped away layers of scabs, exposing raw nerves to the cool mountain air. But as much as Taun was uncomfortable, he wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet. Advancing had proved that he could master pneuma. That any human could, really. Because while Axaranth had helped him understand what was happening, it was Taun who had improved his core.

  “I'm not giving up,” the young knight said. “And I won't stop learning and improving. My family needs me to master pneuma, and I intend to do that before I leave. And I don't care what it takes or who it angers.”

  Do not be difficult, man-child. I promised to help you here at the Academy, but I will not stand by while you endanger us both with your ambition. We must work together.

  “Then I suggest helping me grow stronger, faster,” Taun said. “Otherwise, Auris and his cronies might kill me. That won't work out well for either of us, will it?”

  Axaranth had no response to that. The silence brought a smile to Taun's face, and the young knight whistled cheerily as he returned to the Broken Blades lodge.

  LIRA WAS ALREADY BACK at the lodge when Taun arrived. The secretive young dragon greeted him with a shy wave and gestured for him to join her table. “How was your first day among the dragons?”

  Taun grinned as he took a seat. “No one took a bite out of me, so I'll take that as a win. I learned to advance my core today, so that's something, too.”

  The scout glanced at Taun from the corner of her eye. “Humans don't have cores. You can stop pulling that leg, now.”

  “Dragons don't know everything,” Taun replied. “Humans can handle pneuma, too.”

  Lira narrowed her eyes and concentrated on Taun for a moment, then leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms in front of her. “How are you doing that? Is it some kind of trick that makes it look like you have a core? And there's something very...draconic about you.”

  Taun expected Axaranth to offer him some guidance, even if it was only to strike Lira down to prove his dominance, but the ancient dragon said nothing. It was sulking at the back of Taun's thoughts, an overgrown child denied its favorite toy. Fine, Taun thought. If Axaranth wanted to give him the silent treatment because he didn't want to hide his head in the sand, the young knight would handle this himself.

  “You can see pneuma, right?” he asked. “Just watch me.”

  The knight took in a deep breath, and spiritual energy rushed into him along with air. The pneuma gathered in his core and coiled inside it like a cat looking for a place to rest. It didn't hurt this time, though his core already felt full. Taun let the breath out, this time directing his pneuma toward the fire fitfully spluttering in the kitchen stove.

  The flames responded to the energy, flaring brightly for a moment before settling back down to a cheery crackle. When Taun breathed in, he pulled on that fire, forming a connection between himself and the stove. The flames mimicked every breath he took, glowing brighter and dimming as he inhaled and exhaled. It was little more than a parlor trick, but it proved Taun's point.

  “They lied to us,” Lira whispered. “All this time we thought humans were less than dragons.”

  “I'm home,” Moglan bellowed from the doorway. “Who's lying to who?”

  The big shaman strode into the lodge's damp interior, a heavy sack slung over his shoulder. He stopped at the table, upending his cargo onto the scarred wooden surface. Mushrooms, each one the size of Taun's clenched fist, tumbled out of the burlap bag, their rich scent filling the air with an earthy aroma. “This should go nicely with the gruel, eh?”

  Taun had never seen mushrooms this size. He lifted one, sniffed it, and nodded appreciatively. “This'll be a welcome change to our diet,” he said. “Where did you get these?”

  “Won a challenge in shaman training,” Moglan said with a grin. He dropped into the seat next to Taun and hooked an arm over the smaller man's shoulder. “Twenty Glory for winning, an extra ten for the rare components I found in the forest, and a whole sack full of mushrooms to bring home. How about that?”

  “Showoff,” Lira said. She tilted her chair back to rest her heels on the table. She drew a knife from her belt and began cleaning her talons with its tip. “You weren't the only winner today. I didn't get any mushrooms, but I pulled down ten Glory in a tracking challenge. Most of the scouts act like they've never been outside the city before. Should be easy pickings, mostly.”

  Taun did the math quickly. Including the Glory he'd won that day, they had sixty Glory to the Broken Blades' credit. That was more than halfway to upgrading their quarters.

  Which will also irritate the other dragons. Do not be brash, Taun. Our lives will be much simpler if you listen to me. A wise dragon does not reveal its strength until the time has come to strike.

  The young knight wanted to tell the dragon that he had listened to him, and that's how they'd reached this point. If Axaranth was nervous now that Taun was succeeding, that was his problem to deal with.

  “Look what the cat dragged in,” Kam called as he entered the lodge with Sutari leaning on his left arm.

  Taun bolted up from his seat and rushed over to the silver, who looked like an ox cart had run her over. She gave him a grateful smile and took his offered arm, which told the young knight that she was in terrible shape. “What happened? Did you get into a fight?”

  Sutari chuckled at that and winced as her friends helped her into a chair at the table. “That's one way to put it.” She blew out an exhausted sigh. “Those mushrooms look delicious. Tell me they're edible.”

  Moglan nodded vigorously. “Of course. They'll be delicious in our gruel,” he said. “Who did you fight?”

  “It was our class challenge,” the silver said. “Dueling for endurance. Four hours, non-stop. Only the top three got prizes.”

  Kam winced at her words. “Sorry, Sutari. I can't believe you managed with the crudlung. You'll do better once we get that cleared up. The good news is that I came in second in my occultist path class today. You're looking at one of the finest infusion makers in the Academy. Ten more glory to our lodge!
”

  Moglan and Taun both clapped Kam on the back. The shaman's congratulations landed hard enough to put the occultist's nose in a mushroom, and the bespectacled dragon came up spluttering and wiping dirt off his nose. “You don't have to kill me,” he laughed.

  “You've got more dirt on your face than a scout,” Lira teased. “Maybe you can be our truffle digger. Get a good whiff. I bet you can find more mushrooms. Maybe even make a little money selling them.”

  Sutari cleared her throat. Her scathing glare silenced the rest of her lodge members. Taun swallowed hard, unsure of what had offended their warrior. Finally, Sutari cleared her throat and twisted her head until her neck crackled. Then she offered them all a wide smile and an uncharacteristic little giggle. “I didn't lose,” she said. “I came in second place. Ten Glory.”

  No one said anything as they did the mental math. Ten from Lira, Sutari, and Kam. Twenty from Taun's servant path class. Ten from the knight's duel against the copper on his first day. Another ten more from the Vault Raid challenge. And now thirty from Moglan's fabulous outing. That was exactly one hundred Glory. Enough to get out of their damp, horrible quarters.

  “It's happening,” Taun said, eyes bright. “Do you feel it? We're winning. And if we keep up like this, no one can stop us.”

  Moglan cheered and banged his hands on the table. “Yes! That's the spirit. We may start at the bottom, but there's nothing keeping us there.”

  Kam and Sutari joined in the celebration, though the silver looked like every move pained her. Still, she added her hoarse cheers to the commotion and banged on the table with the rest of them. Taun was shocked to realize this was the first time in a long time that he felt truly happy. In that moment, he wasn't worried about what his brothers would think about him, or what his mother or father would say if they saw him acting a fool. He didn't even worry, just for a moment, about the troubles plaguing his homeland. He'd faced a problem, tackled it, and now a solution was at hand.

  “We've stolen an egg from the henhouse,” Lira said, a harsh edge in her soft voice cutting through the celebration like a cold knife. “They won't let us keep it.”

  Lira stared at her hands as she knotted and unknotted them on the table before her. There was a haunted look on her face, as if a very bad, very old memory had clawed its way back to the surface.

  Taun wrestled with what to say. Everyone but Lira was looking at him to reassure them that everything was going according to plan. And it was. But the young knight didn't know how to take the sting out of the scout's words. After a few moments of contemplation, and absolutely no help from Axaranth, he stood and moved around the table to his forlorn lodge member's side. Crouching down, he put his hand over hers, stilling their nervous fidgeting.

  “There are rules,” he said softly. “We're following them. As long as we do that, they can't take our victories away. They didn't expect me to be clever, Lira. They didn't expect any of you to work with me. If we stand united, we can't lose.”

  Lira swallowed hard, then looked at each of her lodge members. “We're following the rules,” she said, a core of iron, cold and hard, running through her words. “But they won't. Or they'll change them. People like us never win at anything, Taun. Don't you understand that?”

  Those words stung the young knight. Not because they weren't true, but because he'd seen Lira's fears play out before. There was something fishy about how Auris and the golds had won the Vault Raid challenge. Even beyond that, though, Taun knew how the rich and powerful could change the rules for those beneath them, because he'd seen it in action in his own life. When taxes went up, year after year, even though the number of men working the land went down and the crops were smaller. When merchants sold goods that seemed sturdy and reliable, but broke after a season of use and had to be replaced at an even higher cost.

  Those with the gold made the rules, and the rest of the world had to play by them.

  But despite all that, Taun had hope. He was clever, and his lodge members were sharp and strong. As long as they stuck together, they could keep winning challenges.

  It was his job to make sure the dragons believed that.

  “Trust me,” he said to Lira. “I know you've had it harder than any of us. But we're a team now. We can beat them, Lira. But we need your help to do it.”

  The scout looked at Taun, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. Lines of stress and worry creased her young face. Taun couldn't stop himself from wondering what she'd seen, how she'd become a slave and a criminal, only to end up here at the Academy. Lira was bitter and disillusioned. But she was one of them. Taun needed her to believe they could win.

  Lira shook her head slowly, dislodging a single tear that rolled down her cheek to drip off her chin. She seemed so lost, so alone, even in a room of people who wanted to be her friend. Taun felt sure he'd lost her in that moment, that there was nothing he could say or do to bridge the distance between them. How could he, an upper-class human, ever relate to an enslaved dragon with a criminal past?

  But the scout surprised them all.

  “Okay,” she said with a shaky sigh. “You're right. We're all in this together. Whatever you need, just ask. I'm in.”

  The other dragons, even Sutari, whooped in celebration. They threw their arms around Lira, forming a circle to embrace and protect the fragile dragon. Something changed in the group in that moment. They were more than just lodge members, more than mere friends. They were comrades in arms, thrown together by chance, facing a much more powerful enemy than they'd ever imagined.

  They were together, and Taun made a silent vow to keep them that way.

  No matter what.

  Chapter 15

  AS IT TURNED OUT, THE Broken Blades were stuck in their old lodge even after they spent their Glory to upgrade their quarters. Taun had frowned while the administrative dragon, a crusty old male with green scales and tattered leathery wings, explained the situation to him.

  “We haven't even installed the vaults in your old lodge,” the dragon muttered. “It will take time to cancel those work orders, issue new ones, and have everything secured in your new dwellings. The upgrade you purchased will move you into the Avadon Tower. You're lucky there's an upgrade available, at all. We had a larger than usual batch of new recruits this year.”

  “Don't you mean students?” Taun asked. Recruits had a military connotation that he did not like. He was at the school because he needed to be here, not because he had to be. And, knight or not, Taun had no intention of fighting a war for dragons. The next time he picked up arms on the battlefield would be to protect his home against the eldwyr.

  “Of course, of course,” the dragon muttered. “Here. You can move into your new lodge a week from now. This is the key. Sign here to verify the transfer of Glory from your lodge's account to the school. That brings you down to zero total Glory, as I'm sure you are aware.”

  Taun filled out the paperwork, jaw clenched in frustration that it would be a full week before they could move Sutari into quarters better suited to her condition, and snatched the key off the counter separating him from the administrative dragon. “Thank you,” he said, forcing the words through gritted teeth. “I appreciate it.”

  His lodge members were disappointed by the news, but understood there was little Taun could do about the situation. The next week dragged on for the young knight. There were no more challenges for the time being, and their classroom work was boring. He hammered out nails in the servants' path class until he felt like he could forge them in his sleep. Despite the tremendous amount of work he did in that class, he didn't experience another epiphany like he had on the first day. Fortunately, he also didn't damage the soul scale any further. Axaranth still hadn't determined the result of that, yet.

  In Professor Lors' class, he focused on mastering his control of pneuma and understanding the finer points of filling a hoard. He could have used Axaranth's guidance in that class, but the dragon was still giving him the silent treatment. Taun didn't appreciat
e that, but he understood the dragon's perspective. Taun had chased advancement at an unknown cost and had damaged the soul scale. It didn't matter to the dragon that the damage was minor, or that Taun had advanced his core. Axaranth had asked Taun to stop, and the young knight had refused. That put a strain on the relationship that hadn't yet eased.

  There was also the matter of the violet butterfly. Axaranth would not tell Taun why his shadow had pursued it, but the young knight believed it had something to do with the way the balance of power had shifted in their relationship. Taun had beaten the dragon, somehow, and the old creature wasn't sure how to handle that.

  Taun wasn't either, if he was honest with himself. That was one reason he didn't push the dragon to speak. Taun wasn't sure what he'd say to the creature living in his head.

  When the week finally ended, Taun led his lodge in a triumphant march from their old quarters to their new ones in Avadon Tower. The building was a massive obelisk of unpolished metal pierced by tall, narrow windows. It loomed more than twenty stories above the small courtyard that surrounded it, and its exterior walls glowed with shimmering violet light that poured from the rooftop to the ground like warm honey. The front door opened at Taun's approach, and he and his comrades strode into the entryway like they owned the place.

  A small crowd of other dragons had gathered in the common area just inside. They gathered around small tables that contained appetizers and drinks, their faces lit by soft warm light from glowing orbs set into the ceiling in patterns that mimicked the world's constellations. A murmur passed through the other students as Taun walked straight through the room and headed for the stairs at the end of a hallway on the other side. All conversation stopped as the dragons watched the human pass through their midst, his head held high, eyes bright and clear.

  The young knight pretended not to hear the whispers of his new neighbors. They could talk all they wanted, he wouldn't let it affect him. This was his place. He and his friends had bought their right to live here, fair and square. He didn't care if that annoyed the others. Rules were rules.