Dragonlinked

by Adolfo Garza Jr.

  “I know, sir, but I don’t want to have the dragon wake up suddenly in a fright, get angry, and have something happen.” The worker did sound concerned as he spoke to the supervisor.

  Aeron said, “Not to worry, I am up now and will let her know everything is okay if she wakes.”

  “Oh. Aeron, isn’t it?” asked the supervisor.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Call me Matthias,” he said. “That will be perfect. My men can get started.” He nodded to the worker who headed over to a large group of men.

  “My men were worried about waking her,” he said, gesturing to Anaya.

  “I’m sure she would have remembered where she was and that men are working around the building.”

  “My thoughts exactly, but the men were still nervous.”

  Aeron nodded, looking at the group of workers. They broke up into smaller groups, off to their various tasks around the building.

  “Understandable,” he said. “Dragons aren’t exactly something one sees every day.” He looked at Supervisor Matthias and smiled. “At least not before now.”

  “True enough,” Supervisor Matthias said laughing. “By the by, Master Canneth sent a message last night about a toilet for her. You wouldn’t happen to know what area he was talking about?”

  “Actually, I do. One moment.” Aeron slipped on his shoes and walked Supervisor Matthias over to the area Master Canneth had in mind. They talked about the toilet for a few minutes, hashing out ideas about it. Eventually they came to an agreement about the design. Aeron returned to the dragon stable while Supervisor Matthias walked over to one of the many groups of workers.

  Once inside, Aeron sat on one of the chairs around the table and pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders. Last night, he and his friends had moved the table and chairs to the side to give Anaya room to sleep. Eventually, she would get big enough to need most of the space, but for now there was plenty of room for Anaya and the table. He looked over at her, still sleeping on the clay floor in the middle of the room, and smiled. Of all the changes in his life right now, he was most grateful for her. Smiling, he looked out the large door.

  The light outside was much brighter now, which meant sunrise must have come. He stared at the beginnings of the fence, the four-foot posts looking like strange, branchless and stunted trees all in a row. Its completion would definitely make him feel better. Though he had expected there to be a lot of interest in Anaya, the crowds yesterday had made him nervous. But as much as he wanted the fence up now, the workers had assured them that the concrete holding the posts in place needed two days to set before the fence could be finished. That wasn’t holding up progress on the rest of the building, however. He could hear the sounds of work around him, and in spite of that, birds were trilling and warbling their morning songs.

  Aeron yawned and his stomach rumbled. He was getting hungry. Willem had said he would be there in the morning, hadn’t he? Aeron wondered where he was.

  “Good morning, Aeron.” Master Doronal entered the large doorway and walked over to the table.

  “Good morning, sir,” Aeron said and stood up.

  Master Doronal took a seat and placed a bag on the table. “I see that I am the first one to arrive. Well, other than the workers.”

  Aeron nodded. “Yes. Though Willem did say he would be here early, so I could grab a bath while he kept an eye on Anaya.”

  “Good idea,” Master Doronal said, nodding. He looked over at Anaya and studied her casually.

  Aeron yawned and blinked his eyes. He wanted to bathe and get back before anything important started. Where was Willem? Aeron shook his head, trying to wake himself up.

  With a smile, Master Doronal said, “Please sit down, Aeron. You are making me tired, standing there half asleep.”

  Aeron smiled sleepily and sat down. His stomach rumbled again.

  “Hungry, I see. No matter. Master Canneth will have asked for breakfast to be delivered. Hopefully, Willem will be here soon so that you may take care of your morning ablutions and be back in time.”

  Aeron nodded fervently. He was really getting hungry now. Thoughts of crispy bacon or those tasty breakfast wraps were making his hunger worse. Would there be cheese in the wraps this morning? He hoped so. Soft, melty cheese made them even better. His thoughts of a hearty breakfast were interrupted by a voice from the doorway.

  “Master Canneth, Master Doronal?”

  A man was standing at the opening. A large tool belt hung from his waist over durable overalls covered with pockets. A stocky muscular man with large hands, he looked at Master Doronal and Aeron.

  “Yes?” the magic master asked the visitor. “I am Master Doronal.”

  “Ah, excellent. I’m from the smiths, I just wanted to let you know that we are about to start on the—” At that moment he happened to see Anaya, lying in the darker part of the room. “On the . . .” He again tried to finish his sentence, and failed. “Alandra’s merciful heart,” he finally said, staring at the sleeping dragon. “It’s quite something, isn’t it?”

  Master Doronal stood and walked over to the man. “Yes, she is.” He emphasized the pronoun slightly. “Heard of her, have you?”

  The man looked at Master Doronal. “Oh, yes. It,” and he blinked, “that is, she, was the subject of much discussion yesterday.” He turned back to Anaya. “But actually seeing her? Remarkable.”

  Master Doronal placed his arm across the man’s shoulders and turned him around, walking off with him beyond the door, off to the side, and out of Aeron’s view. “Yes, she is. Now, this scale being installed will make it much easier for us to . . .”

  As Master Doronal’s voice faded, Willem came tearing into the building. “Sorry I’m late!”

  “Thank the gods you’re here. I’m starving and breakfast will be here soon.” Aeron stood quickly and, with a quick glance at Anaya, went to his chest from which removed a change of clothes, jamming them into his satchel. “Keep an eye on her for me, I’ll be back as fast as I can.” He dashed for the door, tossing his blanket to Willem and grabbing his coat.

  “I will,” Willem said, catching the blanket. Smiling, he shook his head and folded the blanket, placing it on top of Aeron’s chest.

  Aeron hurried to the Magic Craft Hall. The Bath Hall was probably closer than the bathing rooms in the magic hall, but he wanted to grab his laundry bin from his room on the way back. Items placed in the bins in any of the bathing rooms, towels, uniforms and smallclothes, usually, were kept at the laundry until needed. But things placed in personal laundry bins were returned directly to their owners. He’d talk to Master Doronal about letting the hall staff know that his laundry bin should now be picked up in the dragon stable. Hopefully, going to the Magic Craft Hall bathing rooms and using the showers would make up some of the time.

  It ended up taking him nearly half an hour to get back. But that was because he actually thought of more things to take back along with the laundry bin. The most important of which was the alarm chronometer.

  He saw that the work on the weighing scale was well along as he ran past it on the way to the large stable doors. The smiths had begun digging an enormous hole, the outline of which was marked, about ten feet by maybe fifteen feet wide. The portion that had been dug up so far on the left was about three feet deep. Men, smiths he supposed, worked around and in the hole.

  When he ran inside the dragon stable, he saw that Master Canneth and Sharrah had arrived. “I’m back,” he gasped and stopped by his chest.

  “Good gracious,” Sharrah said. “And finish drying your hair, Aeron. You’ll catch your death of cold.”

  Aeron dropped his laundry bin and satchel by the chest, then walked over and slumped in a chair between Sharrah and Willem. He removed the towel from around his shoulders and applied it to his wet hair. “It was definitely chilly running here with my hair still damp,” he began, his words somewhat muffled by the towel, “but I didn’t want to miss breakfast.”

  Master Doronal looked st
ernly at Aeron. “Yes, well, catching a cold isn’t going to do you any good, warm breakfast or no.”

  “Indeed,” Master Canneth said.

  “That was my fault,” Willem said. “I was late getting here so he could go bathe.” Willem looked apologetically at Aeron. “When I woke up, I couldn’t get the riding gear out of my mind. I was sketching out different ideas and lost track of time.”

  “Ah, perfect. What ideas did you have?” Master Canneth looked eagerly to Willem.

  “Well, I don’t imagine Aeron will be flying very high anytime soon,” Willem began, “so initially, along with a saddle and protective riding straps, I was thinking gloves, a light jacket and maybe some goggles to protect his eyes from the wind.”

  “Oh, good idea, the goggles,” Master Doronal said.

  Willem nodded. “I remembered that Anaya has a protective eyelid that is clear, so I figured Aeron might need something too. I was thinking the goggles might be part of some kind of headgear.” He turned to Aeron and grabbed one of his locks, now only slightly damp, and pulled it down over his eyes. “His hair isn’t kept very short on top, and a cap of some kind would keep his hair from flipping around in the wind and stinging his face and eyes.”

  Sharrah looked at Willem. “You really have been thinking about this.”

  Willem smiled. “Well, this is the first time I have really been needed, and I want to make sure everything is perfect.” He looked at Master Canneth. “After a few flights, Aeron can let us know whether he needs warmer leg and foot gear or not. Also, Anaya can let us know whether the saddle is comfortable or not. We can adjust things as we go.”

  “Excellent work, Willem,” Master Doronal said. “Well done.”

  Willem blushed.

  “Yeh’ve been busy, I see,” Mallory said as she walked in the large doorway. She was followed by two young people, and all of them were trailing chests.

  “Your timing is splendid,” Master Doronal said, a large smile on his face.

  Mallory smiled back and nodded. “Aye. And busy as beavers it’s been around here. Building’s been flipped around, it has!”

  “Yes,” Master Canneth said. “In essence it has. But all for the good of Anaya and the horses over in their own stable.”

  “Ah, yes. The poor beasts might not like the sight of a dragon all day.” She nodded and then looked at the table. “But enough of my jabberin.” She motioned for her helpers to begin.

  Now that there was an actual table to eat on, Mallory and her assistants removed the breakfast items and placed them upon it. Aeron was slightly disappointed that breakfast wraps weren’t in evidence, but he was more than happy to break his fast with the warm and tasty griddle cakes being brought out. Once everything had been placed on the table, the two large chests were moved to the side.

  Aeron saw that the third chest had Anaya’s food and sent her a question. Do you think you might want to wake up now and eat? Or are you still too tired.?

  Hmm? Anaya opened her eyes and blinked a few times. I suppose I can get up, now that they have brought my food. She yawned mightily and after a moment, stood.

  “Trin, take your chest outside fer Anaya. She can enjoy her breakfast there.” Mallory gestured out the door and the girl closed and moved her chest several feet outside.

  Aeron watched Anaya follow her out before he grabbed his breakfast. When the young dragon started wolfing down the food, the girl paled slightly and moved by the door, looking inside. Where everyone was loading their plates with bacon, eggs and griddle cakes, and the syrup was being mightily abused.

  Mallory served coffee to the masters, and Aeron and his friends all took juice. “Well then,” Mallory began, satisfied that everyone had been served. “If yeh fine folks would be kind enough ta place the dishes in the chests after, I’ll send someone in an hour ta pick them up. Enjoy yer breakfast.” And with a nod and a smile, she herded her people together and they headed off.

  It was several minutes before anyone spoke, and then it was mostly small talk. It was even longer before they were finished.

  “Excellent victuals, as usual,” Master Doronal said. He ate the last forkful of his fluffy griddle cakes then wiped his mouth with a napkin.

  Everyone was murmuring their agreement, stomachs pleasantly full, when Supervisor Matthias stepped in the doorway and looked in. He saw them all leaning back in their chairs with satisfied smiles on their faces. “It seems as if you are done breaking your fast,” he said. “Would this be a good time for my men to start on the walkways?”

  “Yes, of course,” Master Canneth said. They all stood and, after packing away the breakfast dishes, walked outside.

  Anaya was lying on a sunny patch of grass where she had taken her rest after her own breakfast. She raised her head when they walked out and watched them.

  “Aeron,” Master Doronal began, his eyes on the young dragon, “if Anaya is willing, I’d like to ask her a few more questions.”

  She was, and so they sat beside her on the grass, not quite as soft and green as it had been in the spring months. The clear blue sky above was unbroken by anything except the occasional raptor circling overhead searching out a meal. The piercing cries of the birds of prey were heard only faintly above the din of construction and everyday life in the Caer.

  “I’m curious about the social and, political I guess one would call it, makeup of the dragon Houses.” Master Doronal stared at Anaya and her golden eyes. “Is there a leader of each House?”

  Much time was spent with questions and clarifications back and forth, Sharrah furiously taking notes. They learned that there was indeed a leader of each House. The senior female, the queen, presided over the various families that made up the House, and she was also the leader of her family, the High Family. The queen had officers of a sort, members of the High Family that she granted the political rank. They dealt with minor disputes and such, leaving the queen to deal with only major issues.

  Socially, there were six ranks that divided the families and members of a House. Many things determined rank, be it family, political standing, appearance, attitude, actions, social circle and more. And a family member’s rank affected the family’s rank. Perception was everything. This lead to one-upmanship, petty infighting and backstabbing.

  Anaya couldn’t understand why the dragons acted in such ways. Aeron could sense that she was uncomfortable with some of the memories she relayed, embarrassed too. Even so, she continued answering questions as the morning wore on. Eventually, however, she became tired.

  I must sleep now.

  Thank you for answering the questions. I know some of the memories trouble you.

  They do. But I wish to know too, so I do not mind. She let out a large yawn and then lay her head down, closing her inner eyelids.

  “She needs to sleep,” Aeron said.

  “Thank you,” Master Doronal said to Anaya. “Thank you for your help.”

  The magic master is welcome.

  “She says you’re welcome. She is just as interested in finding out these things, remembering them, as we are.” Aeron looked at Anaya, who now closed her outer eyelids as well. “Many of the memories trouble her. She doesn’t like how the dragons act.”

  “It does appear undignified, the petty squabbles they apparently have,” Master Doronal said. “We hold them in such high regard, some revere them even. And to find out they act in such ways can be troubling. Truth is truth, however.”

  “She is a treasure trove of information,” Master Canneth murmured, nodding. He turned to Aeron and said, “We are in her debt, and yours. The information we will be able to gather from her is priceless. We are fortunate to have her, and you.” Master Canneth reached over and grasped Aeron’s shoulder firmly.

  Aeron said, “We’re just happy to be able to be together at the Caer.”

  “Well I for one am very glad we were able to convince Lord Baronel to maintain her.” Master Canneth rose to his feet and looked at Master Doronal. “I think we should meet with him soon
and give him an update on where we are.”

  “An excellent idea,” Master Doronal said, looking up at the zoology master.

  “I’ll leave the rest of today’s work to Sharrah. I’m off to my hall to finish up the field reports. I’ll be back this evening for dinner to see how all is going.” With a nod, Master Canneth was off.

  Master Doronal turned to Aeron. “I had an idea we could work on those magic focus types you mentioned.” He opened the small bag he had been carrying and removed the training bracelets from within. “Do you think you can recreate those magical focus types you saw in the Bond spell?”

  Aeron held out his arm so Master Doronal could attach the training bracelet and nodded. “I think so.”

  Master Doronal snapped the bracelet closed on Aeron’s wrist and then attached his own. “Excellent. There is no need for anything else, just create the focus types you can remember. We’ll study them, one at a time, then move on to the next. You may begin.”

  Aeron nodded to Master Doronal. He glanced briefly at Willem and Sharrah, who were staring at them, eager, he supposed, to see more magic being performed, and then closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and thought back to the most important night of his life so far, the night he and Anaya were linked by the Bond.

  He vividly recalled the events. The intensely bright light that burst forth from where they touched; the feeling, the knowing, that they were meant to be together; the powerful magic that pulsed over his skin, through his body and between himself and the newly hatched dragon whose nose was touching his outstretched hand. He thought about the spell, the intricate construction of the Bond. It was much too complex for him to fully understand, much less recall completely. But he did remember briefly glimpsed focus types he had never seen before. There were three he could recall.

  He created the first one and opened his eyes. It floated in the air between himself and Master Doronal, a twisty loop of unusual color with no immediate purpose. It slowly rotated, mesmerizing in its simplicity.

  “Ah, that is a known focus type,” Master Doronal said. “It will be listed in your journeyman book, once you attain that rank.”