He laughed at her exuberance and watched as she flew farther west. She made a wide, graceful turn and then flew over Willem, who jumped and waved his arms again while Anaya continued on. Later, after she passed the southeast corner, she flew back to Aeron, landing on the cobblestone road. Her eyes were a happy, deep gold.
Now we fly!
Indeed we do! he replied and quickly mounted up.
He carefully attached the safety straps and said, Ready when you are.
He gripped the handholds in anticipation of her launching into the sky, which she did immediately. The rush of the air, the thrust of his dragon’s wings pressing him downward and the ground receding below all combined to fill him with sheer joy and excitement.
“Yeeeaaaahhhh!” he yelled and was answered by Anaya’s own excited roar. He was grinning from ear to ear.
Anaya leveled out and flew west. Aeron was again struck by the incredible view he had while flying with her. His vision was unobstructed for miles all around. Seeing the Caer from above made it seem as if it wasn’t quite as large as it looked from the ground. That wasn’t quite right, he thought, because the Caer was big. But from up here, he could see what a relatively small oasis of safety in the big wide valley it actually was.
After they completed their first pass, finishing over Master Doronal and Sharrah, Anaya banked to the right in a slow turn. A shadow passed over Aeron, and he glanced over to see what caused it. Anaya’s left wing was blocking the sun as she came around. Aeron was amazed by the large and powerful appendage. With the sun behind it, he could see the bone structure and some of the larger muscles and veins as shadows in the translucent membrane of her wing. It was an oddly beautiful sight that passed quickly.
Off to the south, he could see the distant purple-tinted hills that made up the southern side of the valley. The winter morning sky was so clear, it seemed like he could see almost forever. Everywhere beyond the cleared area around the Caer were snow-covered trees. Some of them were bare branches and some, evergreens, still had their needles and were made puffy with the thick covering of snow.
Aeron could hear the air whipping past him and was glad of the fantastic riding gear Willem had made for him. The flight would be very uncomfortable without it. He wondered whether Anaya was bothered by the temperature at all.
Are you cold?
I am able to heat myself and keep warm for a while yet.
Okay. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t suffering from the low temperature.
Thank you. I am good for now.
He reached over and patted her on the neck.
The two trips along the wall were over much too soon for Aeron. He wanted to spend hours flying with Anaya. But after the second pass, they landed on the road near South Gate. Aeron dismounted and stood next to her. They waited there for the others to arrive.
“Flying with you is so amazing,” Aeron said as he leaned his cheek against Anaya’s neck and stroked her. “I wish we could fly all the time.”
We can fly as much as you wish.
No, not yet. I don’t want to strain or hurt you. But we will fly a lot!
Flying with you is good.
Aeron nodded, breathing in her scent, completely content.
“I know something else to add to the saddle,” Willem said as he walked up a few minutes later.
“Oh?” Aeron said. “What’s that?”
“I saw her roll over that one time. If she does that right now with you on her, you will only be held on by the riding straps. What I want to add is some kind of leg support, so that when you are upside down, you can hold on with your legs too, perhaps your lower legs.”
“I see.” Aeron hadn’t thought about that. He would rather not have to rely only on the riding straps to keep him from falling if they were to try the roll while he was on Anaya.
Willem stared at the saddle and mumbled to himself. “Maybe a shaped piece of leather-covered wood that conforms to your lower legs, one on each side?” He nodded. “Hmm, yes.” He turned to Aeron. “Could you get on the saddle? I want to check on something.”
“Sure.” Aeron mounted and sat in the saddle as Willem looked it over.
“Is that how you normally sit on the saddle when you are flying?”
“I think so, yes.”
Willem nodded and removed something from his satchel. It looked like a piece of white chalk, or maybe wax. He then placed his fist on the saddle a couple of inches or so below Aeron’s thigh.
“If something was about where my fist is, would it bother you?”
Aeron glanced down and then moved a bit on the saddle. “No, it wouldn’t bother me at all.”
“Good.” Willem then changed his hand so that his wrist was against the saddle, his arm up near Aeron’s thigh, and his hand cupped downward. “Now, my arm is against your thigh, but imagine that it isn’t, that there is just a sort of curved piece where my hand is.”
“Okay.” Aeron wasn’t sure where Willem was going with this.
“Can you raise your lower leg to rest it in my hand?”
Aeron raised his lower leg up, resting the back of it in Willem’s hand.
“Good. Now, imagine that you are upside down. You would use your legs to clamp yourself to the saddle using my hand. Well, the supports I will add to each side of the saddle where my hand is.”
“Oh! That’s a great idea!”
Willem smiled, and after removing his hand, he started drawing on the side of the saddle, making white markings on the leather. A minute or so later, he seemed satisfied.
“What’s that?” Sharrah asked as she and Master Doronal arrived.
“It’s another adjustment to the saddle,” Willem replied. “Along with the cantle, I will add a leg support on each side.”
“Why would you need to put supports there? I’ve never needed any when riding horses.”
Aeron smiled at her. “You can’t ride horses upside down.”
“What?” Now she was even more confused.
Master Doronal smiled as the reason for the supports became clear to him. “Ah, that is a good idea. If Anaya ever rolls over in the air while Aeron is riding her, he can use his legs to hold on to the saddle, and thus, to her.”
“Oh.” Sharrah stared at the markings on the saddle. “I did see her roll over earlier. I hadn’t thought about what would happen if Aeron had been riding her.”
“I did,” Willem remarked, soberly. “Although the riding straps would keep him from falling on a slow roll, I would rather he had more support to be safe.”
“An excellent point,” Master Doronal said, nodding.
“Did you guys figure out how fast she flies?” Aeron asked.
“We did indeed.” Master Doronal turned to Sharrah and said, “What were the figures again?”
She looked at her notes and said, “Let’s see. I calculated her speed per second to be roughly thirteen hundredths of a mile. That’s not too informative, but if we multiply that by one hundred, it gives us the per minute speed, and if we multiply that by fifty . . .” She scratched out a quick calculation before continuing, “it gives us sixty-five miles per hour. Incredibly fast.”
Aeron was stunned.
“How about with Aeron on her?” Willem asked.
“Her speed was cut quite a bit.” Sharrah looked at her notes and after another quick multiplication, she said, “Her speed dropped to about fifty-five miles per hour. Still, that’s very fast.”
“Assuming she could travel a full day, twenty hours straight, without food or rest,” Master Doronal began, “which I am very sure she could not, but assuming she could, she would cover one thousand three hundred miles in a full day of travel by herself, or one thousand one hundred miles with Aeron.”
Willem whistled. “Those are enormous distances.”
Master Doronal nodded. “I think I begin to see what Lord Baronel has in mind.”
“What’s that?” Aeron asked.
Master Doronal looked at Aeron, then at Willem and Sharr
ah, apparently mulling over something. He seemed to come to a decision and said, “Let’s continue this conversation back at the stable. It’s chilly out here, and we’ve been standing in the snow for some time. I want to get warm first.” He headed up the road toward South Gate. Willem and Sharrah followed behind, thoughtful expressions on their faces.
Even though he wanted to know now, Aeron hopped on Anaya. After he was strapped in, she quickly launched into the air. As they flew back to the dragon stable, Aeron thought about Lord Baronel. What plans did he have for Anaya, for Aeron? What did her speed have to do with anything?
He hadn’t come up with any concrete ideas by the time they got back to the stable, which annoyed him slightly. But he was very happy to see that the others had closed the large doors before heading to South Gate; the dragon stable would still be warm.
As she walked in, Anaya shook snow off her paws on the stone walkway before she ambled to her favorite spot and lay down. Aeron closed the doors behind her, removed his cap, gloves and riding jacket, and checked on the coffee. There was plenty and it was still nice and hot. He made a mug of hot tea for himself and put out mugs for Willem and Sharrah. He was sure they’d want some hot tea to warm up with as well.
He was nearly done with his mug when they arrived. Master Doronal refreshed his cup of coffee, and Willem and Sharrah were grateful for the hot tea. After a few minutes, Master Doronal cleared his throat.
“You three seem to be privy to a lot of things you probably shouldn’t,” he began, looking at them, “so you no doubt know that Lord Baronel has tasked Master Canneth and myself with discovering all we can about nahual.” He paused and took a sip of coffee. “Lord Baronel is the type of man who likes to be prepared. Nahual are becoming more and more of a threat, and he wants to be ready with anything that will help us fend them off, help keep his people safe.”
Aeron nodded. “We had heard that Millinith was assisting you with that.”
“Exactly what I mean,” Master Doronal said, a half-smile on his face. “Not many know that. But yes, she is helping by venturing out in the field to interview people and investigate the sites where attacks have occurred. She sometimes even brings back items of interest.”
“How does Anaya’s speed help against nahual?” Aeron still couldn’t think of how they could help.
“If I am right,” Master Doronal said, “you will be helping with the investigation.”
Willem chuckled. “We better start adding those weights to Anaya again with Aeron riding her.”
“Huh?” Aeron looked at him questioningly.
“I’m pretty sure you don’t want Millinith riding Anaya without you.” Willem was grinning.
“You are correct, Willem.” Master Doronal raised his cup to him in a toast. “Time is of the essence in our investigations. The more time that passes between an attack and when Millinith can get to the site, the more chances there are for the site to be disturbed and for witnesses, if there are any, to forget details that might be important. I suspect Lord Baronel wants you,” he said, pointing at Aeron with his cup, “to provide speedier transportation for Millinith. And perhaps, to assist her.”
Aeron sat back in his chair, dumbfounded. That was something that had not occurred to him. It would be great to be able to help in the fight against nahual while not actually fighting nahual. The more he thought about it, the more he liked it.
“That would be fantastic,” Aeron said, sitting up again. “I would be more than happy to assist with the investigation.”
“Tomorrow, I’d like you three to start Anaya’s weight training again with Aeron riding,” Master Doronal said, “in case my suspicions are correct. How much weight were you up to yesterday?”
“One hundred and fifty pounds,” Sharrah said, looking in her notebook. “We wanted a wide weight margin for safety.”
Master Doronal nodded. “And how much do you weigh?” he asked Aeron.
“One hundred and ten pounds, according to the scale.”
“Good,” Master Doronal replied. “Because there were absolutely no adverse effects from the last regimen, I think we can increase the rate at which we add weight this round. Say, ten pounds a day? We still need to monitor her carefully to make sure she isn’t taxed too hard, so be sure to check with her often for any soreness or potential strains.”
Aeron’s excitement was so great, he could barely sit still in the chair. If Master Doronal was right about Lord Baronel, it would give Anaya and him something solid to contribute to the Caer. Fighting nahual while keeping Anaya safe? That he could get behind!
Chapter 21
Therday, Primory 4, 1874
Late Afternoon
Aeron had looked over the apprentice spell book a bit before lunch, and Master Doronal had been right. The style of this book was much more technical than the primer. It made him feel as if his magic studies were now much more serious.
As he had skimmed the spell book, he had seen that there were a few new magical foci and transformations listed in their respective sections along with those with which he was already familiar. As for the spells themselves, the vast majority of them were compound spells. He had struggled to understand the way spells were added together in those. His first impression had been that parts of the spells were woven together with one of the new transformations. But to his mind that had just seemed too easy. He had been wrong.
An empty lightglobe floated inside a small metal cage, which itself sat at the bottom of the left sink in Master Doronal’s large stone worktop. The sink was filled with what appeared to be cleaning wash. Because at this point the glass globe contained air, it would normally float at the top of the cleaning liquid. The cage held it under the surface.
Master Doronal looked at Aeron and said, “I don’t know whether you remember, but I told you that if you studied hard enough and did well, I would teach you the cleaning spell.”
Aeron smiled and nodded. He did remember. He had officially started along the path to learning magic about three months ago when Master Doronal had talked to him about the cleaning spell.
“Well today is the day you will learn the spell, Lindel’s Globe Wash.” He smiled at Aeron then looked at the glass globe floating in the cage just under the surface of the cleaning wash. “Compound spells are a little different from the spells you’ve been studying thus far, so I will cast these first two spells for you, so that you can see how they work. These two will be the first spells from your new spell book on which you will be tested.”
Aeron opened his apprentice book and turned to the first spell. He wanted to follow along in the book as the spells were cast.
“As the various sub-spells all have to do with the glass globe itself, and glass is nothing more than sand with a few additional items to give it various desired characteristics like strength, clarity, shine, and such, the framework used is the petrologic framework.”
Aeron watched the framework appear and surround the glass globe as it sat in its cage in the cleaning wash. The clear liquid had a faint bluish tint. Aeron would always associate blue liquid with cleaning.
“Now, the first sub-spell assists with cleaning the globe. Any dirt or other impurities on the globe will be loosened, allowing the cleaning agent in the wash to remove them.”
As he watched the sub-spell being woven, Aeron could see that it would make the glass very slick. In fact, he supposed even trying to handle the globe would be difficult as it would be extremely slippery. “How are the other parts of the wash going to be able to touch the globe?” Aeron asked. “That sub-spell makes it very difficult for anything to remain attached to the glass globe.”
Master Doronal smiled. “Quite correct. We will do so by making the globe attractive to specific things. We will make the glass like a magnet, pulling in what we want it to. Observe the next sub-spell.”
The next sub-spell built itself around the globe, parts of it interweaving with the first. They were separate and yet together, reinforcing each other. It looked like
it would make the glass very attractive to specific plant types. “Marrowleaf powder?” Aeron guessed out loud.
“Indeed. You are very good at interpreting spells.”
“Well, I have mixed the cleaning wash so many times, I know all its ingredients by heart. Marrowleaf is the only one from plants.”
“Just so.” Master Doronal nodded and then continued with the next sub-spells.
When they were all complete and Master Doronal closed the compound spell, the globe was surrounded by a thick bundle of throbbing bands of magic. Aeron was amazed by how the various sub-spells interlocked and supported each other. It was a beautiful thing to see.
“Now, we just swirl the globe about so that the wash can do its work as the compound spell does its own.” Master Doronal gently moved the cage about in the cleaning wash. After a minute, he lifted it from the wash and rinsed the glass globe thoroughly with water from the faucet. He then removed the cleaning spell. “There,” he said. “We can now proceed to the enchantment spell, Cerce’s Extract Infuser.”
Master Doronal moved closer to a pot on the worktable to his left and removed its lid. It must have contained light moss extract because, now that the pot had no lid, it emitted a great deal of light. He very carefully rotated the cage top for bottom, not wanting the globe to break as it rolled inside, and then started to lower it into the pot. In its new orientation, the cage allowed the globe the rise within, floating on top of the extract as the metal enclosure was lowered into the slightly viscous liquid. The cage was taller than the pot, so once the cage was resting on the bottom, the globe had room to float atop the opaque glowing extract.
“Now, we can enchant the light moss extract into the globe,” Master Doronal said as he began weaving magic.
Aeron stepped close to the pot and watched the globe with half an eye as he also watched the spell Master Doronal was casting.
“The framework we will use for this spell,” Master Doronal said, “is again the petrologic framework.”
Aeron watched as the colored bands of magical focus smoothly shifted and then reached their final positions as the spell framework came into being around the glass globe floating in the cage.
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