WarMage: Unexpected (The Never Ending War Book 1)

by Martha Carr

  “…and that’s why you’re here.” Raven threw her shoulder underneath the massive lever locking the gate in place. “You show me how it’s done, and I’ll do it.” The gears turned slowly, releasing the gate, letting it swing wide. William caught it and held it until Raven walked through, pulling it shut behind them.

  He looked at Raven standing there with her feet wide and her hands on her hips. William gave a deep sigh. “Fine.” He pointed to a shed just inside the gate. “Go in there, grab a saddle, and follow me.”

  “Yes!” Raven ran to the shed to pick up the large brown leather saddle and followed William across the open area, their feet sinking into the soft, muddy soil, until they were in front of Leander’s pen.

  The red dragon saw the two of them approach and stood up to gaze menacingly. “Slow day?” asked the dragon.

  With a cocky smile, William pointed at Leander. “Go saddle him.”

  The dragon looked from Raven to William and blew steam out of his nose.

  “Already? Great, sure, I can do this.” She seemed unsure of what to do for a moment. “I’ve saddled hundreds of horses, and I’ve seen you do this with Teo. How hard can it be?”

  “Yeah, how hard?” William chuckled.

  Raven walked breezily up to the gate of Leander’s pen. She stopped and leaned on the gate with the saddle. “You know, I felt a special connection with you the other day, too. I think we’re going to be great friends.”

  “Good for you,” said the dragon, his eyes half-shut.

  “Then this should be easy for you.” William kept his gaze on the dragon as Leander turned his head to look at him.

  Raven faced the dragon, who stared down at her while she eased the lock open on the pen.

  “Am I having a visitor?”

  “Get in there quickly!” William shouted. “Don’t let him get out!”

  “I can’t tell if you’re serious or trying to make me nervous.”

  “Both,” said the dragon, swishing his tail and scattering the hay.

  She slipped in and shut the gate behind her. With nothing between her and the beast, her stomach twisted in knots. What the hell am I doing? “Okay, Leander. My name is Raven. Remember me? I’m going to be training you.”

  “Did you fall on your head riding Teo? I can hear you just fine.” His voice rumbled inside her chest. He bent over until his nose was inches from her face, his giant eyes looking into hers.

  She smiled at him, whispering, “Work with me here, okay?”

  He sniffed her and lowered his eyes. “Not today, little girl.”

  “Why not?”

  Leander craned his neck, stretching it and letting out a low roar. “It’s been raining all day. There’s no work until the area dries out.”

  Raven looked at the massive paw print Leander made in the mud as he stepped backward and away from her. She slowly put the saddle on the ground and took a step forward, her hands raised. William came to the gate, ready to stop her.

  She gently laid her hands on the dragon’s head. “I saw you in the rain. You were dancing.”

  The dragon lifted his head, and her hands slid off. Leander opened his ample mouth. William unhooked the gate as fast as he could manage. “What the hell was I thinking?”

  “The spell. It was you, was it? A mage. I should have known.” Leander let out just enough fire to curl around his teeth, warming Raven’s face.

  She picked the saddle up and shook it in her right hand. “Let’s get the saddle on so we can start learning together. Form a bond, go make some cloud bunnies.”

  He lowered his head and flattened his back, surprising William.

  Raven smiled. This is working. He’s going to let me saddle him.

  She swung the saddle onto his back just as he dipped his head and slammed his snout into her, sending her crashing back into the gate. Her head bounced loudly off the metal poles, and the saddle slid neatly off his back as she clutched her head. Her sight went blurry.

  “Whoa!” William unlatched the gate.

  Raven heard the click and held up her hand. “No! I can do this!”

  Raven rolled onto her hands and knees, blinking until her vision cleared. She was left with a ringing in her ears. “I’ve come this far, Leander. We have to work together on this. Do you want your wings clipped? You’re a magnificent beast who deserves to fly, but they have rules. Now let’s go!”

  She sidled up to him, scooping up the saddle and keeping eye contact with Leander.

  “You don’t get to decide whether my wings are clipped, little girl.” He bent over to meet her face. “You’re not the rescue I’ve been waiting for. I can take care of myself.”

  “Two peas from the same pod.” William re-latched the gate and leaned on it, observing them. “Stubborn crops up in everything.”

  She shook her head and held up her finger, spreading her feet into a fighting stance. “Don’t do that again. You may be bigger than me, but I will kick your ass, dragon or not!”

  “Big words from a little package.” Leander released a thick black cloud of smoke from his nostrils, blowing it right in Raven’s face. She coughed and choked on the smoke, her face turning red from the effort to breathe as she retreated to the edge of the pen.

  She clutched her chest and coughed violently, gasping for air. William watched, amused.

  “You’re a real bastard, you know that?” Raven squared her shoulders, not willing to back down from the powerful creature. “I’m going to give you one more chance.” She pointed a finger in the air.

  The dragon curled his lips at the corners and craned his long neck up.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dragon smile before,” said William.

  “Let me get close to you, and let’s make this happen so I can at least save you from a boring, pointless existence in the valley.” Raven choked out the words, stumbling toward him.

  “Wish I’d brought a drink to this show.” William leaned his chin in his hand.

  Leander grunted, whipping his tail around. “Come close to me all you want, but don’t bother trying to put that infernal thing on my back.”

  She approached him again, her hand raised as she remembered seeing William do with other dragons. He didn’t dip his head this time; instead, he eyed her. Before she could get a hand on him, Leander knocked her to the ground and placed a massive paw on her, leaning on it with so much pressure that the back of her head sank into the mud, nearly plugging up her ears. She felt the blood rush to her face as he leaned over her, staring silently.

  “One Caliphasas, two Caliphasas. It’s the region where I was once an egg in a nest.” The dragon removed his paw, and Raven curled into a ball, holding her ribs in pain. The mud was indented with her silhouette.

  William sighed from outside the pen. “Leander, go easy on her, man. She’s trying.”

  She punched the ground in fury, mud squishing between her fingers. “That’s it!”

  Grabbing the saddle, she sprinted to Leander and threw it up into the air. It landed on his back, but before she could get a hand on the straps, he lunged to the side and knocked her backward. She fell to the ground once again but scampered away before he could put a paw on her.

  Her ribs throbbed in pain, but the saddle was still in place. She sprinted to him, and this time he drove her away with a small puff of fire.

  New plan. Don’t go at him directly. I can strap on the saddle from the top.

  Raven rushed along the pen, her back to the fence.

  Leander didn’t move a muscle.

  “Are you waiting to see what she does next?” asked William, amused.

  With a smirk on her face, Raven sprinted up his tail, trying to climb up his back. The dragon roared his discomfort, attempting to stand. “Get off!”

  She ascended to his back and dove onto the saddle, hoping she could somehow reach the straps below. The straps! Shit. I did not think this through.

  Before she could adjust her plan, Leander bucked wildly, sending her soaring across
the pen. She landed with her leg caught between the bars, banging her knee. A spell formed on her lips and the hairs stood up on her arms, but she bit her lip and swallowed hard.

  She stared at the defiant creature with her teeth gritted in pain as the saddle landed on the ground next to her face.

  William chuckled as he walked up to the other side of the fence and wiggled her leg loose. She fell to the ground, landing on her head. “Grab the saddle and get out of there before you get yourself killed.”

  Raven’s ribs ached with pain. She looked at her dirty coat. “Please let this be mud.” When she got out of the pen, she collapsed on the ground.

  William crouched next to her, sniffing the air and wrinkling his nose. “Still want the job?”

  She groaned and rolled to a seated position. “I think he broke a rib or something.” She felt around her midsection to see if any bones were out of place.

  The young man laughed. “No, that was a dragon just messing with you. He didn’t break anything. You probably have a decent sprain in your ribs, but he wasn’t trying to hurt you. If he wanted to break your bones, you’d know it.”

  “It doesn’t feel that way,” she said, taking a deep, painful breath.

  “We’ll get you fixed up inside. Hose you off and check your ribs. Serves you right.”

  “Is that your version of ‘I told you so?’”

  “Pretty much.” He helped her to her feet and assisted her to the porch of his house.

  “I have to train Leander so I can take him to Fowler. Everybody else has their familiars. I can’t go back to school without him. In less than a month, if I have no familiar, I go home and wait until next year.”

  “Choosing a dragon was your idea. You can pick something else.”

  “Nothing else calls to me.”

  “This would all work better if you stopped making it about you.” He sat her down in a chair next to the front door of his house. “If you try to take him to Fowler the way you’re going, he’ll kill you before you get past the gate of the ranch, okay? That’s not going to work.”

  William crouched in front of her and checked her knee. “Your knee is okay. It’ll have a few new colors for a while, but you’re pretty sturdy, Alby.”

  “What the hell is his problem, anyway? Doesn’t he know I’m trying to help him?”

  “He knows. But you still have to earn it.” William pressed gently against her ribs. “Yeah, I don’t think anything’s broken, just some mighty fine bruises. Brings back memories,” he said with a smile.

  “You have a weird idea of fun. Did you have to go through this?”

  “Nothing that bad. It was almost uncomfortable to watch!”

  “’Almost.’ Good one.” She sneered at him. “And yet, you laughed.”

  “It was still funny. I knew Leander wasn’t attacking you. See, that’s the difference here. If I were to go in there, he wouldn’t stop until I was dead. He didn’t kill you.”

  Her mouth hung open. “Oh, so he treated me that way because he likes me.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

  “Eh, let’s not go that far. You have to earn Leander’s respect, and then maybe he’ll like you. He treated you that way because he smells something special in you. I still don’t get what that means,” he said, scratching the back of his head.

  “His respect is not going to be easy to gain, and then there’s the bond. There’s a big difference between respect and the bond. Respect means he’ll listen to you if you approach him the right way. That...wasn’t the right way.” He helped her to her feet. “Some of my first trainees bucked me around, threw me to the ground, stepped on me, and lit up my ass. They like to test you. They make sure you really want it.”

  Raven rubbed her temples. “Has anyone ever wanted it more?”

  “Want it for the right reasons.” He grinned, his dimples deepening. “They can sense that. That’s your problem. Figure out what you really want—to train a dragon or show up your friends and stay at the Academy. I have to go take care of a few things. You feel better?”

  She bent her knee and frowned at the ache. “I’ll deal.”

  William ran off as Raven dejectedly walked across the ranch. She stopped at Leander’s pen one more time.

  “You oversized barbeque pit.” She shook her head. “I’m trying to help you. Work with me, and we can both be legends. Don’t you want that? Or would you rather be another damn flightless dragon living out his sad life in the valley? We have one short month until both of us have to prove something.”

  Leander curled his scaly lip, exposing a row of sharp teeth. “It’s not that simple, little girl.”

  She walked off, still grumbling, waving her arms in frustration. “Ooof, that is going to smart in the morning.” She held her ribs, passing under the MOSS RANCH sign, fuming with anger and frustration. What more is there? What the hell am I doing?

  The ground rumbled under her feet and she looked up at the clear sky, surprised. What was that?

  But it passed as quickly as it came, and her mind drifted back to her knee and dragons.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Raven kicked up dust as she walked back to her grandfather’s ranch. Her vision was fuzzy, and her knee reminded her of her acrobatics with every step, pinging with pain. She tried not to aggravate the dozens of bumps and bruises all over her body. Her sore ribs were compounding things, making it difficult to take deep breaths.

  “Another typical day,” she murmured. She brushed her hair out of her face, smudging dirt across her forehead, and kept moving. “I’m not sure I have this fight in me.” She gazed at the stars, wincing at the soreness as she shut her eyes. I know what it’s like to soar on the back of a dragon. You can do this, Raven. Tears rolled down her cheeks. One more day. “I can do this. Oof, I hope I can do this.”

  Raven made it the few miles between the ranches and walked through the Alby iron gate and onto the ranch.

  All I want to do is sleep.

  She perked up when she noticed Mick sitting on a bench outside his cabin, looking at the sky and scraping mud off his boots. She stumbled over to him, doing her best to smile.

  “Mick, how’s the ranch holding up after all that rain?” she asked as she approached.

  The ranch hand took his eyes off the sky and smiled at the girl. “Hey, Raven. It’s not so bad. At least it stopped for a bit this afternoon. Going to be great for all the harvesting we gotta do.”

  Raven sat next to him on the bench. She winced at the strong stench of alcohol that wafted off him. “Little early to be digging into the drinking. Stars are just coming out.”

  Mick stifled a burp and lifted his right pant leg to reveal a neat row of stitches sewn into his skin, running up the side of his calf. “I caught my pant leg on a harvester this afternoon. Was careless, trying to make up for lost time. Did those myself with a little needle and thread. Momma would be proud. That there’s a blanket stitch. Keeps all the insides where they belong.”

  “Son of a…” Raven leaned over to inspect it. “Must hurt like a mother.”

  “Oh, yeah. It’s good to keep myself medicated, so to speak, and it’s working after a fashion. It’s got a mighty sting to it. Feels like a thousand splinters, but I bet it would be a lot worse if I didn’t have the ‘shine.” He took a better look at her. “You look a little worse for the wear yourself. What trouble have you been getting into?”

  “I tried to take a dragon for a walk.”

  Mick let out a laugh despite the pain, wincing as his shoulders lifted. “You are a pistol, Raven Alby. One for the ages! Oooh, got to keep that leg still.”

  She sighed, lacing her fingers together. “Mick, you know if I could, I’d go get you a healing spell right now, and…”

  He waved it off, taking in a deep breath and letting it out. “Nah, nah, nah. Don’t worry about that. Listen, I know you would do that for me, and I appreciate it. It’ll heal. Save it for when it matters. Gotta keep magic on the down-low.”

  “That’s what I keep
hearing.”

  “They’re right, too. Magic makes the locals nervous. Besides, it ain’t the worst I’ve seen.”

  Raven frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Ah, I remember when we had a young hand here some years ago—David, or Danny, or something with a D. Anyway, he was fooling around with a harvester one afternoon. Sure enough, he lopped off two of his fingers. I remember seeing them fall onto the grass, ring and pinky. Blood everywhere. He was in a lot of pain, and he wanted to get fixed so he could get back to work. Took us hours to find your grandfather, and by that time, he said he couldn’t heal it.”

  “Seriously?” That didn’t sound like her grandpa.

  “Yep. But it wasn’t because he didn’t want to do it or because he was spent. Drew or Donny or whatever begged him to take him into town to get healed up. He thought maybe there was a wizard there that could do it. Connor said it wouldn’t work. That day, I learned wizards can’t reattach something that’s been destroyed after time has passed. It’s outside the limits of their powers.”

  He leaned over and patted her on the head, observing that she was moving gingerly and slowly. “That looks serious too. You sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, it’ll mend. Is my grandfather around?”

  “I don’t think so, but I’ve been sitting right here since I got hurt, so I’m probably not the guy to ask.”

  Raven clenched her teeth as she stood back up again, absorbing the pain. “Hang in there, Mick.”

  “You too, kid.” He gave her a long look, wrinkling his forehead. “Next time, use a better leash.”

  “Good one. You got me. Boom.” She opened her hand, spreading her fingers, trying to smile.

  “Get yourself in the house before you fall over, Raven. I’m not sure I could drag you the rest of the way, and we’d both feel bad about that.” He leaned his head back to stare at the sky.

  Raven glanced up before fixing her eyes on the front door of the house. She walked a little faster. The porch steps slowed her down, but she gritted her teeth and stepped up. The faster you get inside, the faster you can lie down. Come on. Left foot, right foot.