by Martha Carr
Raven gave a weary wave of her hand, and with pockets heavy with coins, she walked into the house. Her grandfather was sitting in the kitchen, smoke wafting from the pipe hanging out of his mouth. “Hello, Granddaughter. How did the deliveries go?”
“Good. Nothing too unusual. There was a draft in the center of town.” She unloaded the money onto the table, letting a few of the coins roll in a circle and land near the edge.
Connor smiled, not looking at her. “Really? Early this year. Thank you for keeping Deacon company. That couldn’t have been easy.” He gazed at her. “You look worn out. Go lie down. I’ll make sure you and Deacon get a little extra for your efforts today. Are you going to be eating here tonight?”
She nodded. “Later. We still owe the Moss Ranch a delivery. I thought I’d run it over there first.”
He eyed his granddaughter. “You are a mage in training, Raven. Don’t get dazzled by a dragon.”
“What, noooo. Pfffft.” She batted the air in protest.
“Just be careful and get back before dark. School tomorrow.”
“I promise, if it gets dark, I’ll get William to walk me back.”
Connor gave in reluctantly. “Stay safe, and don’t go near the wall.” He shook his finger at her, quickly looking back at the receipts. “Remember what I’ve taught you. Not just magic, but how to fight.”
“I know, balance in everything. That way, you’re never completely caught off guard. I remember.” She headed to her room before he could say anything else and went to the box she kept under her bed. She slid it out and whispered, “Tantum enim mihi.” A curl of green smoke appeared at her lips and she held up the box, blowing the smoke into the brass lock. The tumblers fell into place with a click, click, tink, and the top popped open.
Raven flipped the top and pushed aside a faded green patch, some trading cards with drawings of great mages from the past and sprigs of rare blue bellum blossoms. “There it is,” she said satisfied.
She grabbed a short dagger in its sheath and carefully shut the box, listening for the familiar click, click, tink before sliding the box back under her bed. The spell was complete. She walked back down the hall and stopped for a moment, looking toward the kitchen.
She looked at the dagger, her jaw set, and went into the small room, laying the dagger on the hammered metal kitchen table. Another family heirloom from a long time ago. “Armed and ready, Grandpa. Can even wield it with one good arm.”
“Good idea. Strange times and still no sign of Isaac. Try your cloaking spell on the way. That one could use some practice.” He hesitated like he wanted to say something and stopped. “Back before dark, or you make William walk you.”
She reached the Moss Ranch and walked through the gate, scanning the area for William. She headed for the two-story house set in the middle of the ranch to see if he was already eating dinner.
“Hey, isn’t trespassing illegal?”
Raven looked over her bandaged shoulder to see William standing there with a large leather saddle slung over his shoulder. On the side was the Moss Ranch brand, two M’s intertwined burned into the seat of the saddle.
“I’m headed to the dragon pens. Want to come?” He grinned, waving at her to follow him. “Dumb question. I see how you look at them. Come on, you can also meet my stubborn new friend.”
Raven forgot the pain in her shoulder, walking and chattering along beside William. All the news she had come to tell him got pushed to the back of her mind. She was headed to see dragons.
William glanced at her wounded right shoulder. “How’s the shoulder?”
“Still attached and kind of functioning, which is more than I would say for the elf’s arm.”
William laughed, adjusting the saddle on his shoulder. “Not surprised. Are there elf parts all over your pasture?”
“No, but you could follow the trail back to his lair.”
William nodded, smiling. “You managed to hold onto your mother’s pin. Well done. I hear they love shiny objects almost as much as goat meat.”
Raven rubbed a finger over the ruby stone. “I took some extra elf flesh for his attempt at ripping that off me.”
“Of course you did. Come on, war mage, help me open the gate. You able to manage that with one hand tied in front of your back?”
“So funny. Keep your day job. I’m not a war mage,” she said, pressing her lips together. “Everyone knows they passed out of existence some years ago. I’m barely a mage of any kind.” Raven moved the heavy levers to open the tall gate, pushing her weight against the oversized locks and digging in with her feet.
The wheels and gears let out a loud series of clicks, metal scraping against metal. A dull ache bloomed in her injured shoulder, but she refused to let William see her grimace.
They got to a large open area, far enough from any other buildings or trees to a pen housing the dragons. They stopped at a stall with a dragon the size of three horses. The young male was an immense beast, but still small for a dragon being trained for battle.
William laid his saddle over a wooden stand and opened the stall, cautiously approaching the blue and silver dragon. He held his palms up at the beast, and the dragon sat on its hind legs, wrapping its long, scaly tail around its body.
The dragon snorted. “You may enter.”
“Okay, Fallon, time to show our company what you can do. Easy boy.” Fallon clawed at the ground and fluttered his thick, leathery wings, steam pouring out of his large nostrils.
Raven got up on a stool to look over the stall, leaning against it. “His skin even shimmers,” she said, rapt.
William deftly moved a halter over the dragon’s head, gently patting his neck. The overlapping scales along his neck were the size of William’s large hand. “He’ll turn a deeper blue as he ages,” he said in a low tone, keeping his attention on the big beast. “Okay, back up so I can lead him to the ring, and then we can have a little fun.”
Raven hopped off the stool and backed down the broad middle aisle open to the sky until she was at the far end. William opened the gate and led Fallon out of the stall. They got clear of the door, and Fallon pulled at the reins, rearing back on his hind legs.
“Whoaaaa! Okay, Fallon!” William hung on, rising up onto his toes to stay in control.
Fallon breathed out a stream of fire, stretching his neck as the blaze rose into the air. He curled his neck around and looked at Raven, his large hazel eyes blinking calmly as he stared at her.
“Who is this?” he demanded.
“Raven Alby, nice to meet you.”
“Should have known. One stubborn magical creature recognizing another,” snorted William, still hanging on. “Never seen Fallon look at anybody like that before.” The dragon roared, baring his teeth, and William jerked down on the halter. “Okay, okay, we know you’re tough. Let’s head to the ring.”
Raven watched, mesmerized as William led the dragon to the ring and left him tied with a long tether in the very center. Raven climbed up onto the fence and took a seat, her breathing shallow as she watched the dragon paw at the ground. William waved his hands in different directions, making different patterns as the dragon responded, taking flight and landing again, turning left or right.
“What do you think?” he shouted to Raven as Fallon circled overhead. Raven grinned and whooped and cheered.
“Ha! Careful, or my family will wonder if an Alby is trying to horn in on the dragon business.”
“Please. I think your family likes seeing me here more than they like seeing you.”
“If you think that’s the case, then go train me some dragons and make your presence worthwhile.”
She laughed, rocking her head back.
“Coming along. Fallon’s young yet and stubborn. I haven’t been able to stay on him so far. We pen the juveniles away from the main pasture while we work with them. Check this out.” William waved his hand, and the dragon reared back, tilting his head to the sky and unleashing a mighty roar that shook the gate of the pe
n. Raven felt it underneath her in the fence.
“Good boy!” cheered William. “He’s small…”
“You call that small?”
“But he packs a good punch. Hang on, I’m going to let him out to the rest of his clan.”
The young man led Fallon to another gate on the far side of the pen, pulling it open to let them walk down a long, fenced-in path. Raven hopped down and followed them around the outside of the pen.
The gate at the end of the path opened into a sizeable ten-acre pasture. “Move to the side,” yelled William. “You don’t want to be in their way when they come barreling through here.” Raven stepped away from the path as William put two fingers in his mouth and let out a long, low whistle.
The dragon bounded down the rest of the path, its feet shaking the ground violently with every step until he reached the open area. Once through, he roared again, and two full-sized dragons, double the size of Fallon, trotted over to greet him.
“Is that his family?” Raven pointed to the more massive dragons.
“In a way. Dragons run in packs, and they’re loyal to each other. Here comes a few more. They’re known as clans once they’ve bonded with each other. Fallon is being adopted into this clan.” He pointed off into the distance. “If you look carefully, you can see two other groups spread out over the acreage. Some of them are blood-related. Mothers are nursing their young and fathers teaching the little ones how to survive.”
He glanced back at Fallon and the cluster of giants. “Fallon is an orphan. He was found abandoned in a deep mine shaft. We don’t know if he was dumped there or fell in. He was too young to get himself out.” He pointed to the right wing and a barely visible red line along the ridge of it. “Didn’t help that his wing was broken, but we got him out and brought him here. He’s been growing into a permanent part of this clan.”
“Aren’t they all stuck in here? How do you keep them from just flying away?”
William laughed. “Training and an ancient spell passed down through the generations that covers this land. It’s a combination of the two, so they can roam free on the property. I teach them to obey commands, but they still have their instincts and their own natural inclinations. It’s like...it’s like we make an agreement to work together. It’s wise to always remember they’re wild animals and they still operate like they would on the open plains or the mountains. Dangerous and cunning, but familial. Frankly, it sounds a lot like my uncle’s family.”
Raven was impressed. “That’s actually pretty smart.”
“They’re brilliant creatures. That’s what makes them so hard to train sometimes. But we do our best.”
“What’s that over there?” She pointed to a charred black portion of the pasture.
William frowned. “Let’s go look. Just keep close to me.”
They strode to the burned pasture as two of the dragons lifted their heads and watched them.
They approached the blackened grass, and Raven raised her eyebrows, nodding with a satisfied smile. “Nice!” She gently touched her injured shoulder.
A charred skeleton with a curved spine and thick skull lay in the blackened grass. “That’s an elf, isn’t it?”
William laughed. “I told you we don’t get many elves. This is why. Every once in a while, one of them sneaks in through here. These guys don’t tolerate intruders. That’s why I told you to stick with me. But they can tell an elf is not friendly, so they, well, they took care of this one.”
Raven felt a blast of warm air on the back of her neck. She turned around to see two blue dragons towering over her, squinting their deep green eyes as they leaned over and inhaled her scent.
“William?”
“It’s okay. I can get them to leave.” He raised his hand, hoping to catch their attention, but the two dragons ignored him, continuing to lean over and stare down at Raven.
“Who is this creature? Smells like a mage.” The dragon tilted his head from one side to the other. His voice emanated from deep inside his chest.
Raven’s eyes widened at the sound of the deep voice, but she met their gaze, staying motionless.
“Move along, Ridgely,” said William in a stern and steady voice.
“This one is different,” said Ridgely, leaning down to sniff her head and peering at the other dragon. Raven barely came to his knee.
“It’s okay, at least he didn’t say, ‘in training.’”
“Why aren’t they listening to me? Ridgely, Lincoln, come on. Go back to what you were doing.” He waved his hands, whistled, trying to catch their attention.
Lincoln stood up to his full height and bellowed, “We’re not dogs.”
Ridgely stomped his foot and looked to the horizon.
William pushed Raven behind him and stood up as tall as he could to the dragons. “Get ready to run,” he said, his voice shaking. “If they aren’t listening to me, an attack may be next.”
Raven came out from behind William, placed her hand on her hip, and ran through every protection spell she knew, ready to blurt the words. The two dragons bowed their long necks until they were level with Raven, staring into her eyes. “I thought your kind were all dead,” said Lincoln. “Interesting.”
“Back off,” said William evenly. The two dragons glanced at him and smiled, showing their first row of teeth. They turned in fluid motions without another word and took flight, flapping their wings enough to carry them to a distant part of the pasture.
William dropped his hands. “That was weird. I’ve known dragons to have two settings. Either they’re readying for attack, or they listen to me.” He scratched his head. “This time, they did neither.” He crouched, taking deep breaths, then stood abruptly, taking Raven by the elbow. “Let’s get out of here. Weird day, wait ‘til I tell my father.”
Raven let him push her along as she kept glancing over her shoulder. “Yeah, weird day.”
Chapter Eight
The two of them hurried down the path and out of the pen as William closed the gate. “That’s about as close as anyone can get to a curious dragon without winding up like that skeleton in there. Especially if you don’t know how to handle them.”
Raven shrugged. “What’s there to handle? They can talk to you.”
He turned and looked past the pen at the dragons off in the distance. “Yeah, when they choose to, but never forget, they’re not harmless, that’s for sure. I’m a pretty solid trainer, and even I get knocked around from time to time. See this scar?” He held up his tunic and showed her a scar along his belly. “We were just playing around, and the dragon let out a small breath of fire. It doesn’t take much to get hurt by a dragon. Really funny until someone gets hurt.”
“You were going to say ‘cry,’ weren’t you?”
“No, I didn’t cry.”
“You did, didn’t you?” She gave him a crooked smile, arching an eyebrow. “A dragon tattoo, wow,” said Raven, pursing her lips. “That had to hurt.”
“Hardy-har, Alby. Cost of doing business. My dad has a lot more of them. A dragon gets excited, and everyone’s playing. It’s all fun and games until something big sneezes. Boom, you get tagged.”
“That’s rough.”
“Be glad you’re a mage. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna say it.”
“Mages get hurt too. Hiccup during a spell and watch your foot grow roots, or your dog turns into a toad.”
“And then there’s stubborn.”
“You’re not back to talking about me, are you?”
William smiled and gave her a wink. “Very funny. Every dragon has an independent streak, and why not? They’re larger and faster, and they can fly and breathe fire or ice, and that’s the shortlist of their powers. I can carry a tune, I know a few spells, and I can train a willing dragon, but sometimes we get a dragon who can’t negotiate. We have one of the worst right now that I’ve ever known. Come on, I’ll show you.”
William led Raven across the ranch, where a large pen had been constructed. She did her best to kee
p up, feeling the adventures of the day catching up with her. Her arm had become almost useless, and her back ached.
They got to the pen, and lying in the middle in a bed of clean straw was a young dragon with a long, slender body. His bright red scales reflected the low afternoon sunshine. When he heard the two of them coming toward him, he rolled onto his stomach. William paused, sticking out his arm to stop Raven from walking farther. “Hang on.”
He stepped closer and the dragon rose to its feet, glaring angrily at the young man. “What do you want now?” he growled, smoke swirling out of his nostrils. William held his hands high to demonstrate that he was not a threat to the beast. “Came by to check on you, Leander.”
“That’s not a name. It’s useless.” The dragon charged at him but was stopped by the reinforced pen. He crashed head-first into the wall, and the metal creaked under the pressure of his weight.
The dragon roared and rumbled, stalking in circles and shooting the occasional plume of fire out of his mouth. “We have no agreement, little man.”
“Easy. Easy.” William tried to get closer to the creature, but Leander ran to the front of the pen and swatted at him, stopped again by the enclosure.
“You’re wasting our time. Eventually, you will tire, and we will finally part company. Save us both some time and open the gate now.”
“We need each other, Leander; you know that. I can’t just let you go. Besides, we can teach you to control your abilities and help you hone them if you’ll let me show you.”
Leander turned his back and curled his tail around his body, ignoring William.
William shook his head. “See? This is what dragons can be like. His name is Leander, and he has every bit of the wild nature of a feral dragon.”
“You think you’re in the middle of training this one? Seems like he’s got different plans.”
He shook his head, disappointed. “We’ve been trying to train him for months. He barely talks to me, and he’s right. He can out-wait me, and if he won’t listen, we won’t be able to keep him.”
