Of Dreams and Dragons

by Karpov Kinrade

  I'm impressed by his assessment, and appreciate his kindness in telling me everyone's name. I tell him as much.

  "I was always good at reading people," he says without arrogance. "Some say my family exploited this in me, but who is to say what is exploitation and what is necessity for survival, Oui?" He yawns and lays down. "Sleep well, Sky Knightly. We'll talk again soon."

  I pull off my heavy cloak and put it and the extra clothes in my trunk and then crawl under the thick furs. The pillow is made of feathers, and some of them poke at my face as I try to sleep, but that's not what keeps me awake, despite massive fatigue.

  Mabel is still talking with Landon on his bed, and though they feign whispering, it's more like stage-whispering. I know they want us all to hear them, and their giggles and guffaws begin to rattle my already frayed nerves.

  "Can you please be quiet?" I ask, as politely as I can.

  They ignore me, of course. I'm about to walk over there and use my 'mom voice' on them, but Bix gets there first. Without saying a word, he picks them up, one arm around each of their torsos, and places them gently on either side of him. Then he flops down on the bed between them and closes his eyes.

  I nearly choke holding in a startled laugh, but I watch to see what they do next. Bix takes up the entirety of the bed, so Landon and Mabel aren't so much laying on the bed as clinging to Bix as he bear hugs them both. I wonder how long they'll last.

  It doesn't take long before Mabel sighs and scoots off to sleep on her own bed.

  Landon holds out longer, but eventually gives up once the big man starts snoring. He grabs a spare fur and sleeps on the floor.

  This is going to be a long night, I think, as I try to get comfortable once more.

  Something startles me awake, and it takes me a beat to remember where I am, and what's happened to me. For a blessed moment I thought I was home, and that one of the kids had gotten into something. Then reality crashes in on me, and I suck in my breath to keep a sob from escaping.

  I look around, trying to assess what woke me. It's still dark out, and yet there is a man yelling at us from the door. A man with a shockingly large white wolf standing next to him. "Rise and shine, Ashlings. Your first day of training begins now."

  Mabel raises her head a moment. "But it's still dark out."

  "Perhaps you'd prefer to spend this time cleaning the privy?" The man says. "I believe I have a toothpick you can use to scrape away the shit."

  Mabel bolts up. "No sir, I would prefer to begin training," she says, suddenly awake.

  "That's what I thought. Let's go, Ashlings."

  Zev throws a cloak over his shoulders. "If you don't mind me asking sir, who are you?"

  "You can call me Master Vane. And this," he says, pointing to his giant wolf, "is Master Wolf. And today, my little Ashlings, you will learn what real pain feels like."

  Master Vane is a tall man with dirty blond hair that falls to his shoulders. He appears rather ageless, but if I had to I'd place him in his 30s. He's tan, muscular and carries himself like a man always ready for battle. He wears furs and leather and looks comfortable in this cold climate as we follow him through the halls and into the snowy courtyard.

  Ice crunches under our feet and I shiver and breathe out white mist. There are patches of grass here and there, struggling to survive the winter. A wall of gray stone surrounds the courtyard, topped with pyres of blue fire.

  Umi appears on my shoulder, chirping into my ear and shivering. I scratch his chin to calm him.

  We form a line and Master Vane paces in front of us like a drill sergeant, the wolf at his side staring at us with eyes too smart to belong to a normal beast.

  "This will be your new world," he says. "Within these walls, you will find pain, suffering, tragedy. Within these walls, you will find you are captives. Slaves. Less than human. Within these walls, you will grow to understand what the dragons must feel like, trapped as they are. Hunted. Tortured. Abused. And once you feel as they do, once you have put yourselves in their skins, then, and only then, will you have even a chance at learning to fight with the fervor they do. With the fierce beauty and majestic power they inspire." He stares at each of us in turn. When he passes me, he stops, locking his startling blue eyes with mine, as if he can see into my soul. "Within these walls, you will find your limits. And… if you are lucky, you will find yourselves."

  A few squad members frown at his words, but something of what he says sinks into my soul, waiting to be studied more closely.

  "For your first lesson," he says, "you will be learning transmutation." He walks over to eight columns of wood, each at least nine feet tall and two feet wide. They're planted into the ground several feet from each other. Vane orders each of us to pick a column and stand behind it, facing him.

  He stands in front of a ninth column set apart from ours. His is twice as thick and made of stone, rather than wood. "The ability to change a part of your body into that of your Spirit's is critical to your core training and Spirit wielding. Your goal for today: Transmute one of your hands into a weapon, and cut the pillar before you in two. Just so." He jumps forward, swinging his right hand through the air. Midway it transforms, skin turning into white fur, nails into claws, and he slashes through the stone, rending it in two, then lands on the ground on the other side of it as his arm reverts back to normal. The stone crashes down behind him, stirring snow and dirt into the air. His wolf celebrates his accomplishment with a brief but impressive howl that is nearly deafening.

  "We will spend three days on this training," Vane says, not even out of breath from the exertion. "The first to break a pillar in two shall be awarded one talisman." He holds up one of the stones with glyphs that Kaden used to fight the Corrupted Spirit on the mountain. "The first Ashling to earn five talisman will be named squad leader for the duration of your training."

  Landon smirks at that, and it's clear he has leadership in his sights. No one else seems to care much either way. I'm too nervous about passing to even worry about being the best at the moment. I feel like I did when I first started training to be a volunteer firefighter. Everything was so foreign and new. I worried I wouldn't be strong enough to carry the equipment, or wouldn't be able to move fast enough in the gear. It was hard at first. But I grew stronger and more capable each day. I steel myself now to not give up. To stay focused. I got this, I remind myself.

  Vane is still pacing, his wolf at his side. "Anyone who doesn't break their pillar in half with the use of transmutation by the end of the three days will be sent to the Charred. From then on, your eternal duty will be to serve all the needs of this fortress. Any questions?"

  There's a deep and worried silence, and some look shocked by his announcement. Mabel raises her voice first. "So being a Charred One means doing menial labor? Like cleaning the rooms?"

  Vane moves to stand in front of her. "Like cleaning shit, Ashling. Who do you think keeps your privy from smelling to high heaven with waste?"

  Her face pales under his glare, and perhaps from the consideration of what sounds like slavery here.

  "Now, everyone begin."

  Wait, what? That's all the instruction we're given? Just… do it? A sheen of perspiration forms on my forehead as I look around to see if anyone else is freaking out, or if they all know what to do. Maybe I can get a clue from them. My fellow squad members are mostly looking at their hands, their faces full of fierce concentration. Enzo swipes at the air before him, maybe preparing?

  I think back to my fight with Pike, when I tried to stop him. I did this, didn't I? My hand turned into a silver claw. But how did I do it?

  Something crashes to my side and everyone turns to look.

  Raven, the smallest and youngest of us all, stands there, her hand a giant black sickle, the pillar before her torn in half. Landon stares at her, open jawed. Everyone does, in fact. Everyone but Vane, who approaches her with an appreciative smile on his face. "And the first talisman goes to Raven." He tosses her the small stone and she examines it
briefly then slips it into a pouch at her waist.

  "Raven, you're free to retire to the common room while your peers continue their work."

  She nods, glances at me briefly, and then walks away.

  The others, Landon and Mabel in particular, glare at her as she leaves.

  I sigh and turn back to my wooden pillar. I don't have time for rivalries. I need to learn as much as I can as fast as I can.

  I swipe at the air, like I saw Enzo doing, while I visualize my arm turning into a claw. Nothing happens. I keep trying. Again and again.

  An hour passes, and Bix breaks his pillar using what looks like sharpened shells made of steel. He guffaws loudly, pounding his chest, then walks out smiling.

  Moments later, Mabel breaks hers. Her hand quickly transmutes from something scaly looking back to unblemished flesh, and she jumps and cheers as she's dismissed.

  When night falls, there are still five of us who have yet to break the pillar, and Vane sends us back to the barracks to sleep.

  My arm is aching, my shoulders are on fire. I want to soak in a hot bath, but I'm too tired and sore. I give a fleeting thought to spending some time in the library to see if I can research some instruction on how to transmute, but I can't keep my eyes open and nearly knock myself out walking into a stone wall.

  The next morning, before sunrise, we are woken again. After a breakfast of porridge in the dining hall, those of us still struggling return to our pillars. Raven, Bix and Mabel are excused for the day to read, take baths, or explore the castle and library.

  To say I'm jealous would be an understatement.

  To say I'm tired would be a joke.

  But I don't let that stop me. I've fought blazing fires in the high heat of summer for twelve hours straight, day after day, when wild fires spread in California. Breaking only to maintain my gear, restock the engine and sleep for a few hours. I can do this. This is nothing.

  And so I give it my everything as Vane walks around inspecting us.

  "Feel the Spirit within you," he says. "Imagine that you are both one. Of one mind. Of one body. Then focus on your intent. And strike!"

  I nod and I focus on imagining myself as a silver dragon. Break the pillar. Break the pillar!

  I strike, my fist hits the wood, and the skin on my knuckles crack open, spilling blood. I hold my hand to my chest as tears of pain sting my eyes.

  Landon is next to finish. His hand turns into a golden claw and he slices the pillar in two. He looks quite smug as he leaves the rest of us behind.

  After him is Zev. He looks almost surprised when he finally succeeds. Then relieved. As he passes me I whisper to him, desperation hitting me hard. "How did you do it?"

  "I'm sorry," he says, frowning. "But information is a valuable commodity here. One I'm not willing to share."

  The sun sets on our second day, leaving me, Enzo and Naoki still unable to transmute.

  Vane is about to call us to head to dinner and bed, but as he opens his mouth to speak, Enzo cuts through his pillar with a massive elephant foot.

  "Job well done," Vane says. He turns to look at me and Naoki. "Looks like you are the last two remaining."

  I glance at Naoki to see how they're handling the stress, but they're looking down at their feet. If I don't succeed tomorrow, I'll have to join the Charred Ones, and all of this, everything, all the sacrifices I've made—leaving my brothers behind, leaving my work, my best friend… all of it will have been for naught. I'll never master my powers. Never avenge Kara. Never return home as I promised Kyle.

  I squeeze my fists. I can't fail. I won't.

  "Maybe I'll bring everyone back tomorrow to share some tips with the two of you," Zane says with some sympathy in his eyes.

  Good luck with that, I think. I already know they won't. They'll just gloat as they watch Naoki and me fail over and over again.

  Dinner is a tasteless affair that I don't register in my brain, too distracted am I by what's to come. That night, I toss and turn in my hard little bed, unable to sleep. I go over the moment I transmuted in front of Pike over and over again. How could I do it so easily then, and not at all now? What was different?

  "Hey," someone whispers to me.

  I turn over and see Raven kneeling by the side of my bed.

  "Come with me," she says as she stands and walks away. Everyone else is asleep, and I'm pretty sure leaving our sleeping quarters is probably breaking some rules, but…

  She turns. "That is, if you want to pass tomorrow. If not, don't come. I don't really care either way."

  Her words are all the motivation I need to make up my mind. I follow her just as she disappears through the door.

  We walk through the dark hallways as she uses a candle to light our way amidst the shadows. I glance over my shoulder regularly, fearing one of the masters catching us.

  We travel down a staircase, and as I watch the candlelight flicker around her, I shiver. There's something spooky about this girl. In the darkness she reminds me of a pale ghost haunting the halls.

  We are outside now, walking through a small graveyard. She stops by one of the gravestones, and behind it is a wall carved with a giant tree. People, carved in relief, are gathered around the tree, worshipping it. Raven runs her small hand down the center of the tree, stopping near the base, and then she pushes. Stone grinds against stone, a loud echo in the quiet of the night, and I almost jump.

  The gravestone slides out of its place, revealing stairs leading somewhere underground.

  "What is this?" I ask.

  "A secret passage," she says, her voice calm and emotionless. "I found it yesterday while exploring the grounds. I thought it could be a good place for training in the middle of the night."

  Right.

  She walks down the stairs, into a pitch black hole. I hesitate for a moment, wondering if this is a smart idea. She's a young girl, but she's clearly skilled in the use of Spirit. But she seems to want to help me, and why would she want to hurt me? It's not like I'm any threat to her.

  In the end, I follow her, because at this point I'm willing to risk my safety if it means even a small chance of learning something to help me pass tomorrow. I feel the weight of this test pressing down on me like an anvil on my chest. Failure is not an option.

  It's a long walk down the winding stairs of questionable safety. I imagine trying to fight a fire in a structure like this and shudder. At least it's made of stone. We finally reach a large circular chamber that I can only see in castoffs of shadows. Raven walks around the chamber lighting other candles with her own until a soft orange glow fills the space. There are at least a dozen doors leading out of the chamber in all directions.

  "What is this place?" I ask in a whisper. If feels almost sacrilegious to speak too loudly here.

  "Probably an old part of the castle no longer in use," she says, not bothering to whisper. Her voices echoes off the chamber walls, sounding louder than it should. "Though, it also might be a dungeon for torturing people. It's about a fifty-fifty chance either way, I think."

  I wait for the punch line, but she's dead serious. I shudder and look around for any torture devices or jail cells.

  As if reading my mind she shrugs. "The torture would happen further in, likely down one of those halls."

  I walk to the nearest opening and peer through. "It's caved in," I say, laying a hand on the rubble before me.

  "A few of them are," she says, "but not all of them."

  I walk to another, this one open and I walk down the hall. Raven follows me. I hear something. "Water," I say. "I hear water dripping." I creep forward, and step into the water before I see it, my boots soaking through. Great.

  There's a gap in the wall before me, from which water gushes into a giant pool blocking the hall. It must be draining somewhere though, because this is the only place that seems flooded.

  "So, I know this is exciting and all, but do you want to train or not?" Raven says with a frown.

  I turn back to face her, thoughts of the fl
ooded hall and where it may lead leaving my mind in an instant as reality crashes back down on my shoulders. "Yes. I'll do whatever it takes to become an Ashlord," I say, as we walk back to the original chamber.

  "Good. Why?" She turns to face me, reading my eyes as we stand in the center of the chamber.

  Her question is so fast, so brazen, and so… personal, it catches me off guard. I think of what generic response I could give that wouldn't reveal too much. But I can see in her eyes that she's studying me, looking for the truth. "My… my daughter was taken from me," I say, surprising myself with the truth. My body fills with a blend of grief and rage as I speak, my fists clenching. "And learning to control my power and becoming an Ashlord… it's the only hope I have of catching the man who took her and bringing him to justice."

  "I see," she says, still showing no emotion. "Then think of your daughter as you attempt to transmute. When you strike at the pillar, imagine not the column before you, but whoever it is who took your child. Understand?"

  I nod. "Yes, I understand."

  She moves aside, and with a wave of her hand dark shadows swirl from the floor, forming a column. Something hangs on it. A black mask with black feathers. It reminds me of a scarecrow. How did she make this? What kind of magic is she using? I didn't even see her use a talisman.

  "How do you know so much?" I ask.

  "It's easy for me," she says. "Always has been." She doesn't offer more, and I don't pry. I don't want to make her angry just as she's trying to help me.

  "Ready?" she asks.

  Not really, I think. But I nod. "Ready." I hold out my arm, and in my mind I don't see the scarecrow, I see Pike. His face hollow, his skin tight, gems protruding from muscle and flesh. And I lunge, ready to tear his throat out.

  My hand flies through the pillar of smoke, and I look down, crestfallen. It's still just my bruised hand. I failed. Again.

  "Good," Raven says.

  I look up in surprise.

  "You transmuted for a moment."