“Come, child,” Dr. Weaver breathed, taking my hand and pulling me to stand before leading me to the shore. “It’s time to wear the ritual garment, do you have it?”
Shivering, I nodded and began drying myself with my sweatshirt.
That’s when I noticed the dragons.
Not real dragons, but tattoos. Each woman had a decently large dragon tattoo wrapped around her body. The detail was elegant and beautiful and looked to be done at different times by different artists.
Lacy’s dragon wrapped down her back and around her left leg. The dim light cast everything in shadow, but I thought hers might be red.
When she caught me looking, I turned away, glad for the darkness to hide my embarrassment. I hadn’t meant to stare, but I’d been so mesmerized by the artwork.
The women remained silent as they dressed.
I yanked the thin pillowcase of a garment over my head for warmth. Instead, it stuck to my damp back, giving me more goosebumps.
Picking up my messenger bag from the cave floor, I received a shake of the head from Dr. Weaver. She pointed for me to put it down, and I did as she instructed, leaving my phone there.
Angeven alone had the small lantern, raising it high to help us navigate our way. We followed behind carefully, our feet softly padding against the stone. When we came to a low passage, I hunched over to avoid hitting my head but ended up crawling to make it through.
On the other side, the cavern opened up, and the smell of sulfur grew stronger. Across from the entrance, water bubbled up from a small pool before joining the everflowing cave river that had created this passage.
Angeven laid out a round straw mat on the dry part of the floor, before setting the lamp in the middle. Then she, Dr. Weaver, Calla, and Lacy all spaced themselves along the circle’s edge, leaving a vacant spot for me. Taking my cue, I knelt in the open place along the border.
Speaking in solemn and intense tones, the old woman’s voice echoed alongside drips and babbling of the cave water, “Daughter of the house of Drake, we welcome you into the sacred cave of the Dragonborn. This is a hallowed place and a sacred moment. May the other realm find you worthy of dragon sight, and may you be chosen by your own spirit dragon.”
The three other women exchanged an uncertain look.
This whole thing was ridiculous! I was ready to get this over with!
Angeven continued to speak in the strange language, saying what sounded like a prayer or a blessing.
Dr. Weaver surprised me by holding the thermos up in her bony hands after unscrewing the lid. “May you be worthy of the Dragon Realm.”
Then, she sipped from the thermos before handing it to me.
Silly, silly, silly Sydney.
I was expecting hot chocolate from the plaid printed metal container. How wrong I was.
The smell hit me first—sweet and sharp. Then as I touched the container to my lips and tilted it back, I took a long swallow. The concoction was herbal, bitter, and alcoholic, making my throat burn as I swallowed.
I coughed a bit before handing the mug to Lacy, who knelt on my other side.
Once the thermos was passed around the group, we sat in silence for a long time. The only sound filling our ears was the occasional plop of a cave kiss and the babbling of the stream as it struggled to find its way out.
My feet were falling asleep, and I shifted restlessly, wiggling my toes beneath my bum.
But the others all sat still, their gazes lowered as if in prayer.
After a while, Angeven stood and walked behind me, her joints creaking and bare feet sliding against the sandy cave floor. She placed her hands on my shoulders and began to chant again in that strange language. Her bony fingers dug into my shoulders, but I stayed still, waiting for something to happen—anything to happen just so I could leave this place and go to sleep.
When her hands left me, I shifted my legs restlessly to the side.
“What happens now?” I whispered as I gazed up at her in the darkness.
“We wait.”
I was going to ask what that meant, but her stern expression warned me from speaking again. Instead, she passed the thermos around the circle again.
Closing my eyes and folding my hands in an awkward prayer-like position, I felt like a complete and utter fool.
Dragons? As if.
I’d been raised with science and evidence. And these women with their dragon tattoos were nothing more than poor saps who’d fallen for a fairytale.
Time passed, but whether it was minutes or hours, I couldn’t tell you.
As I sat there, weary and uncomfortable, and half asleep, I saw something. Out of the corner of my eye, I could’ve sworn I saw the tail of Dr. Weaver’s dragon tattoo move along her neck.
I held perfectly still, my eyes on the ink, willing it to happen again.
When the tail seemed to slide along the cleft in her clavicle, I nearly laughed at myself.
How strong was that drink? What kind of hallucinogenic was in it?
Oh, my! My dad was going to have a field day with this. Maybe I could write a paper on this obscure cult—The secretive North American cult of Dragonborn—Ha!
Pursing my lips, I watched, waiting to see if anything else moved. I wanted to analyze and gauge my impairment.
But I wasn’t sure that I was really impaired. I wasn’t drunk. I’d never been high before, but I seemed to have all my senses.
When dad explained his experience with another hallucinogen, he said that he lost his ego, fear of dying, and self.
I searched my mind. Yep, I still had a fear of dying, and I was still myself, still aware.
My body ached, and my eyes felt as if sand were in them.
Then... nothing happened.
The night grew, and as time went by, I struggled to stay awake.
Waking on the mat, I found my head on a folded up blanket and another one covering me. Searching my mind, vague memories surfaced of someone placing them there.
I couldn’t tell if it was day or night. The ridiculously dark cave gave nothing away. At least the lone lamp still glowed from the middle of the mat.
Dr. Weaver knelt before me in her same position, eyes closed, but the other three were gone.
When I stirred, the professor’s eyelids snapped open, and she let out a disappointed sigh.
Agilely standing, she nodded, motioning me to follow her out of the cave. A muscle in my back protested as I stood, no doubt from sleeping wonky on the cold stone ground.
Just as we were about to duck into the lower tunnel to exit, Angeven popped out of the overhang, startling me.
The Headmistress spoke in hushed tones to my companion, “She must stay. Nygharra is restless, she senses something in the girl… I believe she senses the birth of a powerful summoning. After all, Celine was a Prime.”
Dr. Weaver pursed her lips while she listened, then shook her head before whispering. “With all due respect to your dragon, Nygharra, I think Sydney is too old and her connection to the Dragonrealm too tenuous.”
The Headmistress sucked in a breath before replying, “Nygharra has never been wrong. Besides, I promised Arthur that we would do all we could. Dr. Weaver, I shall take your place if you are unable to continue. Besides, I’ve already woken the others to join me. Maybe together, we can summon a dragon.” Then turning to me, she whispered a bit louder, “Sydney, please go back to the mat. We’re going to try something different.”
Holding up the thermos, Angeven offered it yet again to me. My stomach roiled, and I felt nauseous at drinking more of the concoction but sipped at it anyway.
After groaning at the bitter taste in my mouth, I waited for instruction.
I knew why this wasn’t working.
It wasn’t working because it was all bullshit. I had to buy into their nonsense for it to work.
Angeven whispered more orders at me, “Child, lay down on your back. Yes, that’s fine, keep the pillow and blanket. I want to explain what is going to happen next, so don
’t be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid, just tired, and that drink is making me sick,” I told her, my voice a bit louder than I’d meant it to be.
“Close your eyes. Be still,” was her only reply to my outburst.
Squeezing my eyes closed, I tried to relax. Maybe I could sleep through this next part. I was tired enough. Listening to the stream as it babbled and bumbled its way through the mountain, I began to relax. The tinkling sounds bouncing off the surrounding stone made for a soothing white noise.
Finally, just as I nearly drifted off to sleep, the sound of footsteps roused me again.
Angeven leaned toward me, her voice a soft sound barely above a whisper, “I’ve invited Professor Daniels, Ms. Bryant, and Mr. Carrick to help out while Dr. Weaver rests.”
I imagined the three people Headmistress mentioned entering the cave and settling around me, but I didn’t look—my eyelids were too heavy.
I wondered which presence was the soldier’s.
I could hear and feel the people around me, but still kept my eyes closed.
“We’re each going to touch your hand or your foot,” the Headmistress said before a light touch pulled my arm up and away from my stomach. To keep anyone else from searching for my other arm inside the blanket, I raised it up and to the side, where someone—probably Mr. Daniels—held my arm carefully just above my wrist.
Then a female touch, probably Lacy, carefully folded the blanket back to hold one of my feet at the ankle, her long fingernails scratching my skin.
Lastly, I waited for Ashe. My heart pounded, and I pictured his face, flushed like when he’d walked in on me this morning. Heat pooled inside me, and my body clenched in anticipation. Forcing out the breath I’d been holding, I tried to slow my heart.
Relax, I told myself, trying to take even, measured breaths.
When Ashe’s fingers brushed my ankle, I wasn’t prepared to be literally shocked.
A snap and sting of electricity passed painfully between us. The spark was so bright, I saw it from beneath my lids before opening my eyes in surprise.
The soldier’s gaze met mine, and his expression was one of shock and surprise.
Angeven’s voice remained calm as she ignored the firework and instead began reciting the now-familiar chant. The others joined in, making it a rhythmic droning background noise to my thoughts.
I wanted to sleep. I needed to sleep. But my entire body was tuned to Ashe’s warm fingers on my skin. His touch had roused my senses and caused adrenaline to course through my body. I felt alive and anxious as if I’d just drank a red bull.
Then I felt it.
Something slid down off of Ashe’s arm and next to my foot. My eyes immediately shot open when something substantial stepped on the blanket next to my leg, pulling it to one side.
In front of me stood a giant black monster with multifaceted, sparkling eyes that bore into my own.
I let out a deafening scream and tried to scramble up, but was restrained in place. The hands on my feet and wrists tightened to hold me still, and I screamed again.
Angeven’s words confused me when she spat out harshly, “Ashe! Control Eondian.”
His voice came out a bit rattled, even as he maintained a grip on my foot. “I can’t. He’s drawn to her, I can’t keep him in...”
Above, the black shiny scaled beast with four legs and large outstretched wings stood staring down at me. Its teeth seemed to gleam with malice.
My heart thundered in my chest.
“It’s just a hallucination, it’s just a hallucination,” I repeated to myself several times between my screams of fright.
But it didn’t feel like something I’d hallucinated. It seemed very, very real.
And, this monster was a damn dragon.
It gazed at me, and its name unfolded inside my mind, Eondian.
The beast snorted and clawed at the rock beside me, sweeping pebbles and dust into the shallow stream.
Then Eondian ducked his head, and nudged my chest, the contact creating sparks like Ashe had done.
I cried out in fear, and the adults released me, leaving me alone in the center of the mat like some kind of sacrifice.
Eondian pulled himself up onto his hind legs before blowing out white bursts of smoke from his nostrils and bellowing. Then he extended his wings and lunged at me.
Thankfully Ashe recognized the dragon’s intentions and dove to land in a crouch protectively between Eondian and me.
“What does he want?” Professor Daniels whispered, pushing up his hipster glasses.
“Eondian’s trying to break the barrier—trying to get this girl's dragon free, he’s determined!” Ashe told them, as he tried to keep a position between me and the beast.
“Where is your control?” The Headmistress questioned.
Before he could answer, a broad tail whipped around and flung the soldier away from me. He sprawled on the cave floor, half in the water, on his stomach.
I held my arms up to ward the dragon off, but it batted them away like toothpicks and nudged my sternum again, shoving me hard onto the stone ground. I lay there, the wind knocked from me, and tried to catch my breath. But the beast was relentless and nudged my side, scraping me along the cold rock floor. Scrambling up on scraped knees and palms, I knew they were bleeding, but I had no time to deal with my injuries. The dragon wasn’t done with me yet.
With one of his sharp claws, Eondian picked me up before slamming me into the ground. I lost consciousness for a moment.
The dragon nudging me across the floor made me come around. His snout so close to my face barely concealed his dangerously sharp teeth, and it occurred to me that this might be it. This horrible, horrible monster was going to kill me.
Again and again, he batted at me, and I kept fighting him off.
The others tried to step in, but Angeven warned them away. Anger bloomed in my chest along with the fear, and I shouted at them, “Why aren’t you helping me? What the fuck are you waiting for?”
Angeven tilted her chin down, and the others just watched.
“Are you waiting for it to kill me?” I screamed, ducking another swipe of the dragon, my mouth filled with blood, my body scraped, bleeding, and bruised.
Eondian caught me again and slammed me hard against the ground knocking the wind from my lungs.
Then it happened.
Time seemed to slow, and instead of feeling the pain from my injuries, I fell into a state of ecstasy. Something deep inside me, more profound than just my body or my mind seemed to open. Light and energy poured from my chest, illuminating the entire cave as bright as the sun.
I squinted into the ethereal glow and saw her.
Aaraeth
Inside my mind, there was now another presence—Aaraeth.
I lay unmoving, broken and bruised on the mat. My eyes fell closed, yet I could see the black beast and I… no, not me—Aaraeth moved toward Eondian, nuzzling the dragon, curling into his scaled body. My entire being swirled and throbbed with a deep longing and soul-quenching desire to be with him.
No—not me. Aaraeth thought these things, and yet… I felt them too.
Protective arms circled me and pulled me into a hard muscular body.
I need not open my eyes. I knew who held me—Ashe.
He cradled my head, his face filled with worry. “Are you all right?”
But I couldn’t answer; the flood of emotions from Aaraeth nearly undid me.
Relief, joy, and dark primal urges infiltrated my mind.
The soldier’s eyes bore into me as if he were resisting the same emotions that swept me away. As he knelt there, I clawed my way up his body, my hands gripping his white garment.
His eyes followed me, burning as if lit from within, and his jaw clenched as he held himself still.
Eondian and Aaraeth were slaking their lust while Ashe and I sat privy to their carnal union, open to what passed between our dragons with no way to block it out or avoid what was happening.
And
then, as the events wound to the final climax, something changed between Ashe and me.
The wall that had separated our minds crumbled and a tsunami of emotion broke over us. I began to experience Ashe Carrick’s life—not in coherent thoughts, but in emotions and images.
It was as if we’d melded into one person. I knew his mother, his father, and his family home. He’d grown up near the ocean and loved the water. Stranger’s faces swam in my mind. I didn’t know who they were or their names, but I knew them.
I began to know Ashe—driven and fierce and so virtuous.
As we connected, I lost myself and fell into him.
If it lasted seconds or several days, I knew not.
All I knew was that we’d connected on a level that defied explanation.
When the ebb and flow of connection began to wane, I found myself on the ground in Ashe’s arms. The experience had been exhausting and, clutching each other, we drifted into a dreamless sleep.
5
My first moments of consciousness were warm and content. When I shifted a bit, I found myself intertwined with someone… Ashe.
I lifted my head from the crook of his neck after opening my eyes. Pulling myself up, Ashe’s arm fell away, and I saw his tattoo for the first time. It shimmered in black, shifting slightly over his chest as if the beast were trying to get comfortable with me gone. The dragon’s wing tip reached high up on the soldier’s neck ending just below his left ear.
Skimming my fingers over the ink, I instinctively knew that this was Eondian—Ashe’s dragon.
Mine, something deep inside me whispered as my eyes took in the man’s toned and lithe body before me. When I lifted the blanket to cover him, he stirred and opened his eyes.
“Morning,” he breathed, still in a warm state of drowsiness.
I looked around in the darkness, trying to find anything to tell the time.
“Is it… morning?” I asked.
My soldier sat up and stretched his arms above his head, “I have no idea. No electronics are allowed in here.”
We’d just gone through something traumatic and intense. Images flashed through my mind of the night before, but I pushed them away. What we’d experienced was too raw to examine at that moment.
Cracked Open: The Dragon Born Academy Page 4
