Mrs. Crookin brought over a platter of steaming hot sweetbread, fresh out of the oven. The smell made me dizzy with hunger, and it was hard to sit and wait while she put out jams, that delicious cinnamon butter, and mugs of warm milk for us on the table. “Not surprising, is it dear? It’s nearly springtime.”
I knew what she meant. Every spring, Ulric packed up his tools and materials onto a wagon, and left for Blybrig Academy. The new riders started their training just as the weather was getting hot, and Ulric had to take molds and build brand new saddles for them. It was when he made most of his money, but it also meant that he’d be gone for a while. He was always completely exhausted when he came back. In a month, the snows would melt in the Stonegap Pass, and Ulric would start packing his tools again. If any other knights wanted a saddle from him, they’d have to get it before he left or wait until after spring.
“I wish papa would let me go with him,” Katty whined while she was smearing a spoonful of jam onto a large piece of bread. “It’s not fair. Other apprentices get to go.”
“Soon, dear.” Mrs. Crookin smiled fondly at her daughter. They had the same gold colored hair, but Mrs. Crookin’s was flecked with silver. She was a much older woman than my stepmother.
Katty was eager to go to Blybrig, not that I could blame her. She wanted to see dragons just like I did. Her father had been teaching her his craft for a long time, and she was already strong enough to do most of the little tedious jobs for him, even if she was small and fragile looking. Mr. Crookin went to Blybrig for spring training, just like Ulric. But he went to make armor, not saddles.
“You’ll have to tell me what they look like,” I told her. I wasn’t able to keep myself from sounding sad about it. When she starting working with her father full time, I wasn’t sure where that would leave me. I’d be on the brink of adulthood with no idea where I should go, or what I should do. I wouldn’t have a skill to sell, or even a place to live.
Katty smiled at me hopefully from across the table, leaning forward and grabbing my hand at the wrist. “You’ll see them, too, Jae. Maybe papa would let you be his apprentice with me.”
Mrs. Crookin smiled at us, but I could still see it in her eyes; she didn’t think her husband would ever allow that. They were all right with me coming to visit, and with me being friends with their daughter, but they had to draw the line somewhere. I was still a halfbreed.
I didn’t let Katty see how that hurt me. It wasn’t their fault, really. And it wasn’t my place to try to weasel my way into their family business like that. “Nah.” I shrugged and gave her as confident a grin as I could muster. “I’m going to the coast. I want to work on one of the ships going out of the harbor. I’ll get to see the ocean, and eat fish every night.”
Katty looked deflated. I guess she’d wanted us to work together. Or, she’d at least hoped I would want the same thing as her. “You’ll smell like a fish, after all that,” she grumbled, wrinkling her nose.
We ate until there were only a few scraps of the bread left, and Mrs. Crookin wrapped those up for me to take with me. It was dark outside when I started for home. Katty always walked with me as far as the property line, and she had a blanket wrapped around her so that only her face and some of her curls peeked out.
“Jae,” she started. I could tell by the tone of her voice she was about to ask me something serious. “Do you really want to go to the coast?”
I’ve never been a very good liar. When it came to Katty, well, she could smell deception on me like a hound. I couldn’t lie to her if I wanted to. I quirked my mouth while I thought about the ocean, about ships, and about eating fish.
“Not really,” I confessed.
“We’d never see each other if you left,” she reached a hand out from under her blanket to grasp mine, squeezing my fingers. “After papa retires and I take over the business, I’ll make you an apprentice myself. Then we can work together and no one will be able to say anything about it.”
I tried to smile for her. I tried to show her some optimism. But we’d be in our twenties before her father let her take on any authority in his smithing business, and even then, I wasn’t sure blacksmithing was my calling. It required physical strength, which I clearly didn’t have.
“Thanks, Katty.” I squeezed her hand back.
We talked about dragons and knights all the way to the property line. Then I gave her a hug, and she kissed my cheek like her mom did, and we parted ways. I walked a few feet into the dark before I stopped and looked back, watching her disappear into the gloom and thorny shrubs. She was the best friend I had—my only friend really, and sooner or later, she’d have to leave me behind. She’d outgrow me. She’d get tired of having to stick up for me all the time.
With the bundle of leftover bread still under my arm, I walked back to my room in the loft. Ulric’s shop was quiet and dark, like it always was once he’d finished for the day. He was probably already inside, having dinner with his real family, and talking about how soon he could get rid of me. Roland was probably just sitting there at the table, glaring down into his plate without a word. The twins were probably throwing food at each other like savages. I didn’t expect any of them to even notice I was gone.
But I was wrong.
two
Ulric was waiting for me in the dark. I didn’t see him until I had already shut the shop door and turned around to go up the rickety ladder to the loft. I smacked right into him, bouncing off his chest like a rubber ball, and landing squarely on my rump at his feet. I dropped the package of bread scraps, and they scattered out all over the ground.
“Where have you been?” Ulric’s voice boomed in the dark like thunder.
Before I could even think about answering, much less running, he had me by the hair. He yanked me to my feet and pushed me up against the wall, kicking the scraps of bread across the floor all the while.
“Stealing from the neighbors?” He reared back a hand to smack me across the face so hard it felt like my eyeballs might pop out of their sockets. “Or squeezing on their daughter?”
I hadn’t been stealing or squeezing, but I knew better than to try to tell him that. My cheek was burning like it was on fire when he smacked me again on the other side of my face even harder. As much as I tried not to cry, I couldn’t keep my eyes from watering up. I was terrified of him already, and now I was afraid he might just solve his own problem and kill me. No one would ask questions about where I had gone, except for maybe Katty and her mother.
“If I ever catch you running off this property again, I’ll beat your skull inside out,” he promised, yanking me away from the wall and flinging me toward the ladder. I hit it before I could catch myself. My head cracked off edge of the ladder, making me see bright spots of light in my vision.
“Get up there,” he snarled at my back. It made a cold pang of fear shoot through me like a lightning bolt. “And you better have yourself down here ready to work as soon as the sun is up tomorrow. Understood?”
I scrambled up the ladder with my ears ringing and my vision swerving. I didn’t stop to ask any questions. I didn’t even realize what he’d said until I was curled up underneath my cot, shaking with fear, and anticipating hearing Ulric scaling the ladder to come after me. Instead, I heard the shop door slam, lock, and the crunch of his footsteps storming back toward the house.
I was bewildered. It wasn’t the first time Ulric had come after me swinging, but he’d caught me completely off guard this time. My heart was still drumming in my ears when I finally dared to crawl out from under my bed. I touched my cheeks, wincing at how they still stung. I probably had handprints on both sides of my face.
Ulric had never wanted me anywhere near his work until today. Now he was ordering me to help him? I couldn’t even begin to guess why, and it made my head spin with the possibilities and hopes that seemed too stupid to say out loud. I wanted to believe that maybe, just maybe, he was going to let me be his apprentice. If he taught me his trade—heck, if he taught me anything
at all—I was prepared to learn as much as I could. I needed this if I was ever going to get out from under his roof.
I didn’t sleep at all. I lay awake until the sun started to rise, thinking about what I’d be in for the next day, and whether or not I would able to do whatever Ulric asked of me. Being willing was one thing, but being physically capable was another. My heart could be in it all day long, but I couldn’t will myself into greater strength.
When I heard Ulric unlocking his shop, I was on my feet and in my shoes, waiting for him down the ladder before he could even swing the door open. He glared down at me like he’d found a dead mouse in his shoe, brushing past me without a word.
I stood awkwardly by the door with my hands clenched into fists, and my feet ready to run in case he turned on me again. He started into a routine I knew all too well. I’d seen him pack up his tools before, and it made my stomach twist into those painful, hopeful knots all over again.
“Sweep out the mess you made,” he mumbled with his back to me. “Then hitch up the wagon, and bring it around.”
“Yes sir,” I answered quickly, and went to get the broom. I swept away the dried up leftovers of Mrs. Crookin’s bread that were still scattered on the floor. I swept the whole shop out, working so quickly that it had me sweating before I went outside into the cold morning air.
The fog was still thick and heavy, making the steep countryside look ominous and grim as I went to the barn and brought out the old draft horse Ulric used to pull his wagon. The giant horse could’ve kicked my head off if he’d had the mind to, but the sad old thing didn’t act like he had enough energy to trot, much less kick anyone. I hitched him to the small cart Ulric used every spring to carry his tools and materials to Blybrig.
When I led the horse and wagon around to the workshop, Ulric was already stacking crates outside to load onto it. He commanded me to help him, and I tried my best. My arms weren’t strong enough to lift the heavy wooden crates full of tools, but I could carry the sawhorses, and I helped pile the rolls of uncut leather onto the wagon. We covered everything with blankets to offer some protection from the elements, and tied ropes tautly over the load to keep anything from falling out during the trip.
By that time my clothes and hair were absolutely drenched with sweat. I stood back, not looking for any gratitude from my father, but hoping for at least some acknowledgement that I’d done a good job. He didn’t even look at me on his way to climb up into the driving seat of the wagon, grumbling under his breath the whole way.
Serah came out of the house carrying a big bag I knew would be packed with plenty of food and changes of clothes to last him the journey. I knew better than to think there’d be anything for me in that bag. She handed it up to him, and the two just exchanged a stiff, stern-faced stare before she backed away and crossed her arms. Her cold eyes flicked to me, her face looking sharper and angrier than usual. Sometimes I got the feeling she blamed me for my own existence, or that she was jealous of any attention Ulric gave me that didn’t involve punishing me for something.
“Just going to stand there like an idiot?” Ulric barked at me suddenly.
My mouth opened, and no sound came out. I didn’t know what to say, or what he expected me to do.
He jerked his head, gesturing to the driver’s seat beside him.
My heart jumped. I still couldn’t move, much less speak. I was terrified of making the mistake of assuming he actually wanted me to go with him. I took a few steps, and Serah’s venomous glare stopped me dead in my tracks.
“Get over here, you dumb kid.” Ulric growled in a dangerous tone. “You’re wasting daylight.”
It was a leap of faith, to think I was invited on this trip. But I took it. I walked quickly past Serah with my head bowed low, avoiding meeting her eyes, and climbed up to sit on the driver’s seat beside my father. He didn’t wait until I was settled or even balanced to snap the reins. The wagon lurched into motion, and I almost fell over the seat.
We took off at as fast a trot as the old horse could manage, leaving Serah and the house in a swirling cloud of dust behind us. It started to sink in, then. I was going to Blybrig Academy. I was going to learn to make dragon saddles. Either that, or Ulric was going to drop me off at a prison camp on the way there.
My father waited until we were out of sight of the house to pull a wad of chewing tobacco from his pocket and cram it into his mouth. Serah hated it when he chewed that stuff, and even more when he spit it into her gardens. He didn’t say a word to me as we rattled down the road, and I couldn’t think of a good reason to try to talk to him, either.
When we passed the Crookin’s house, I leaned to look up the twisting dirt path that led to their house. I craned my neck, hoping to catch a glimpse of Katty helping her mother hang laundry, or feeding their chickens, so I could wave goodbye to her. She’d know just as soon as she saw me sitting in the wagon with my father that I was going to Blybrig. She’d be so happy, knowing we’d see each other there eventually. But I didn’t see her or her mother, and it made me slump back into my seat with disappointment. Maybe she’d figure it out, or maybe I could write her a letter once I got to Blybrig.
It took a long, exhausting, miserable week to get from Mithangol to Blybrig Academy. The only thing worse than being at home with my father was being alone with him. We didn’t talk. He didn’t say anything to me at all. There was always tension in the air, and it made it hard for me to feel safe. I was afraid to turn my back to him while we were out here, alone in the wild.
The road wound away from our little city, twisting through the high cliffs, and carving a steep path upwards through the Stonegap Mountains. The higher we went, the thinner the air got. It got dryer, too, and made my throat feel raw. My lips were chapped and peeling, but Ulric wouldn’t let me have any more than the small ration of water he’d planned out for us every day.
At night, we ate a little bit of dinner that consisted of flatbread and some dried meat, and then went straight to bed. Ulric had a bedroll, and he slept by the fire on the ground. I curled up with a blanket on the seat of the wagon, looking up at the stars in the cold night sky. Some nights, it was too cold to sleep at all, and I sat up by the fire on the ground, my teeth chattering and my toes numb, until morning.
That’s when I thought about my mom. When I was alone like that at night, when it was quiet, I always thought about her. I took out the necklace she’d given me when I was little. I kept it hidden under my tunic. I didn’t want anyone to see it, and no one except for Katty even knew that I had it. It was carved from white bone, engraved with designs and words in elven that I didn’t understand. It hung around my neck on an old leather cord, exactly where she’d put it the day she gave it to me. I rubbed it with my fingers while I remembered my mom. The memories I had of her voice, her face, and her smell were all beginning to fade. I was afraid that eventually I’d forget her completely.
I felt like I’d been drug behind the wagon, rather than riding in it, all week when we finally reached Blybrig. I was tired, sore, hungry, and thirsty. Even Ulric was beginning to look pretty road-weary and miserable. We didn’t have much left in the way of supplies, and I was beginning to worry we might run out before we got to the academy.
Then all of a sudden, none of that mattered. As we crested one final, steep rise in the road through Stonegap Pass, I got my first look down into the valley hidden below.
They called it the Devil’s Cup because the land in the valley was so arid and dry. It was a small desert nestled into a crescent of mountains, cut off from the rest of the world except for Stonegap Pass—unless you could fly. The only small portion of the valley that wasn’t guarded by white-peaked mountains bordered the coastline and looked out to nothing but blue ocean. I could see the water, sparkling in the distance, and stretching out across the horizon beyond.
I saw it all, spread out before me so suddenly that it took my breath away. I couldn’t help but stand up to get a better look, able to see exactly how the road wound down
the mountainside into the valley. It twisted across the parched earth, past thorny shrubs and cacti, until it stopped before the only standing structure in the whole valley: Blybrig Academy.
Then I saw them. What I’d mistaken for a flock of birds circling far overhead weren’t birds at all. The nearer they came, the more aware I became of their size. They were huge, bigger than any animal I’d ever seen, with powerful wings stretched to the morning sun. Dragons were everywhere I looked, flying in V-shaped formations overhead in groups of two or more. The light danced off the gleaming armor of the knights riding on their backs. They soared like eagles, majestic and graceful, riding the wind that blew in from the ocean. They were perched on the high circular ramparts that enclosed the academy complex, and even from a distance, I could hear their bellowing calls.
We rattled down the road that led up to the only gate in and out of Blybrig. The walls were enormous, at least five stories tall, and made of stacked grey stones that looked like they had been mined right out of the mountains surrounding the valley. The enormous iron gates stood wide open, letting us into the world of the dragonriders—a place only a select few actually got to see.
As I understood it, its location was secret. Only dragonriders and the craftsmen who worked for them actually knew where this place was. That had seemed ridiculous to me before, but now that I’d been through that grueling, narrow, and dangerous path that was the only way through the mountains, I understood. If you didn’t already know where this place was, odds were you weren’t going to find it just wandering by around in the mountains.
Ulric drove the wagon through the gate and into the complex, passing students and knights on the way. All the buildings seemed to be set up around one central, massive circular structure. It had a covered domed roof, and the entire thing looked like one large cave carved right out of the rock.
“The breaking dome,” Ulric explained when he saw me staring at it. I was surprised he’d actually cared enough about my interest to say anything at all, but maybe this was part of the job. I needed to know where everything was so I could run errands for him.
Fledgling (The Dragonrider Chronicles) Page 2
