Fledgling (The Dragonrider Chronicles)

by Nicole Conway

  Just as quickly as he’d appeared, I watched him dive away. Nova spun into a tight roll, swirling down toward the ground. Before I could think about the intensity of a move like that . . . Mavrik decided to take up the chase. He snapped his wings in tight against his sides, and immediately we plummeted downward. I screamed because there was nothing else I could do other than hang on.

  We chased Nova like two eagles playing tag, darting through the sky. We did dives, we rolled, we flew up until we breached the clouds and saw nothing but endless sky above.

  Nova really was a big female. She was way bigger than Mavrik, with golden and brown markings on her scales like a jungle snake. She was bigger, but Mavrik was faster. When he switched on the speed, there was no catching us, and we dove through the clouds like a charge of blue lightning.

  It was indescribable, and right away I knew it was the greatest rush I’d ever experience. I also knew I’d never get enough of it. If being a dragonrider meant I got to do this every day, I’d jog as many laps and memorize as many maps as I had to. I wasn’t going to give this up—not ever.

  eight

  “We’re going to be the best,” Felix declared as we lay awake in our beds. After a day like that, neither of us could sleep. My heart was still racing, and I couldn’t stop grinning. All I could think about was flying again, and how soon I’d be allowed back in the saddle.

  “Trust me, I know. I can feel it. We’re going to be the best riders this academy has ever seen,” he went on.

  I laughed. “We haven’t even had our first real lesson yet, Felix,” I reminded him.

  He didn’t seem to think that was a problem. He went on and on, talking about our bright future, until he finally fell asleep. As soon as I heard him start to snore, I got up and put my boots back on as quietly as I could.

  The craftsmen were going to be leaving tomorrow. All the saddles and armor had been finished, and so they would go back to their homes and private workshops. Mr. Crookin would go with them, and I had to get Katty’s letter into his saddlebag before he left.

  I crept out of the dormitory and into the night. The academy was quiet, and every building was dark except for a few rooms in the instructors’ dormitory. I slipped through the shadows, and was out of breath by the time I reached the smithing armory. All of Mr. Crookin’s gear was still there, packed up and ready to move out in the morning.

  I took Katty’s letter, folded it up the way Felix had shown me, and tucked it carefully into one of his saddlebags. With a big sigh of relief, I stood up and started back for my room. Thousands of stars twinkled overhead, and the moonlight made long, ghostly shadows on the ground.

  I’d just reached the edge of the tackmasters’ armory, keeping out of sight as much as possible in case there were any instructors still awake, when the sound of two voices made me freeze in place.

  A cold shiver of fear ran down my spine. The voices were coming closer. I sucked in a sharp breath, and ducked into the nearest workstation that was still crowded with equipment. Hiding behind a big wooden crate, I waited.

  The voices kept coming closer, and I could hear the crunch of footsteps. I recognized one of the voices right away; it was Lyon Cromwell. But I didn’t recognize the other one. It sounded like a much older man, maybe even an instructor.

  “You’re absolutely sure about that? Every morning?” the man’s voice asked in a snapping tone.

  “Oh yeah, we’ve all seen them,” Lyon was quick to answer. “Trust me. He’s up there before the call to arms, running drills with both of them like clockwork. He’s giving them all the lessons a week ahead of time, so tomorrow they should start aerial maneuvers.”

  The unknown man made a thoughtful, growling noise. “We hadn’t anticipated on the halfbreed, but I suppose it won’t be a problem. Fledglings wouldn’t know how to respond to such an . . . unforeseen accident.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that little rat,” Lyon scoffed. “He won’t last a week in real training. It’s a joke they’ve even let him stay here this long.”

  The man didn’t sound so sure. “Lieutenant Derrick is not an idiot. If you had half a brain yourself, you’d realize that. He’s up to something. Our best chance is to act now, before any plan he’s cooking up has had time to be fully realized.”

  “Right.” Lyon didn’t sound too happy about being called dumb, but he didn’t argue. “Well, I held up my end, so I expect you to hold up yours.”

  It was the older man’s turn to scoff. “Watch your mouth, boy, and remember your place. You will be compensated, as long as everything goes according to plan.”

  I ducked down, and tried to make myself into the smallest ball I possibly could when their footsteps went past. Their voices started to get faint then, and they moved away toward the Roost. After a few minutes, I couldn’t hear them at all anymore.

  At first, I was too afraid to even think of moving. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. Lyon was planning something bad, and it sounded like it was going to be aimed at Sile. I was so terrified of being caught out here alone, where no one would hear me scream for help, but I couldn’t stay in the armory all night. So I waited a few more minutes, until I was absolutely sure they weren’t coming back, and started for the student dormitory in a sprint.

  I didn’t stop or look back until I’d slammed the bedroom door shut behind me. There wasn’t a lock on it, so I just stood with my back against it, gasping for breath. My heart was pumping like mad, and I was numb from head to toe.

  Felix bolted upright as soon as the door slammed, and he glared at me sleepily with his hair ruffled up like a messy haystack. “What’s the big idea? You scared me to death!” He growled as he grabbed his blanket and rolled back over.

  “F-Felix!” I could barely get the words out because of how hard I was breathing. “Outside, I heard someone talking to Lyon! Tomorrow morning, when we fly, Sile is—!”

  “—probably gonna kick your butt for staying up too late,” he interrupted angrily. “Would you go to sleep already? And quit slamming the door. You scared me to death.”

  “But I heard—!” I tried to spit the words out before I ran out of breath.

  “Right now all I can hear is you keeping me awake!” Felix growled again, grabbing his pillow and covering his head with it. That was the end of the conversation.

  I sat down on the edge of my bed and tried to think. There had to be some logical explanation for what I’d heard; something that wasn’t as bad as how it had sounded. But no matter what I came up with, I was still left with a swirling sense of doom in the pit of my stomach.

  Something bad was going to happen, and I was the only one who knew.

  nine

  It was hard to get excited about my first day of training when I had a big black cloud of worry hanging over my head. I got up before Felix did, got dressed, and waited on him to catch up so we could meet Sile before the call to arms. We had patterns to learn and laps to run before our day officially began.

  “What’s with you?” Felix asked me on the way to the Roost. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  I shot him a glare. “I tried to tell you last night. I heard Lyon talking to someone. He’s plotting against Sile.”

  “Pfft!” Felix slapped my shoulder teasingly. “You’re just paranoid. Sile is one of the most decorated instructors here. Why would anyone want to plot against him?”

  I didn’t know. All I knew is what I’d heard, and it hadn’t sounded like they were planning a surprise party for him.

  Sile was waiting for us. He was already saddled up and ready to fly, standing in his full armor like he had been the first day I saw him at Ulric’s house. He coached us hurriedly through putting on our own saddles again, and then we were off.

  The sun was just beginning to rise over the eastern mountains, making the sky a deep purplish red. The air was cold, and my teeth chattered under my helmet as I watched Sile and Felix surge forward into the sky on either side of me. We gained speed and altitude, leaving th
e dark ground behind and charging toward the sunrise.

  Mavrik seemed to be able to sense my apprehension. He kept flicking his big yellow eyes back at me, making curious chittering noises as he chased Valla and Nova through the air. I kept my eyes on Sile, watching as he took the lead and began to give us signals to follow him in a V-shaped pattern.

  I could see him clearly off my left wing, and he started to guide us through a long sweeping pattern that took us around the outermost perimeter of the valley. We did steep climbs, steeper dives, and sharp banking turns.

  I was beginning to think Felix was right. Maybe I was just being paranoid, and I’d just misunderstood what I’d heard last night. There really was nothing to be worried about at all.

  Then Sile gave the signal to do a barrel roll.

  I watched him veer to the right, toward me, and begin another steep descent. Valla drew her wings in, and they began to roll downwards into a layer of clouds. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Felix start to follow, mimicking Sile’s movements.

  Suddenly, something snapped.

  It made such a loud crack I could hear it even over the rush of the wind that hummed past my helmet. I ducked just in time as a piece of metal went flying past my head so fast it probably would have knocked me out cold. I looked back over my shoulder, trying to figure out what it was. I was almost sure it looked like a buckle.

  Valla let out a high-pitched shriek that sounded like pure panic. Mavrik answered her with a thrumming roar, and before I could think, he snapped his wings in tight and started to dive after her. All I could do was hang on, searching frantically for some sign of Valla, or even Felix, as we dove through the clouds. We streaked downwards, and I couldn’t see anything except the occasional blur of ground through the haze.

  Then I saw her. Valla flared her white wings right below us, catching the air and coming to a sudden halt. I yelled at the top of my lungs. We were going to hit her!

  Mavrik put on more speed, making a sharp twist so that we just barely missed her as we blitzed down through the air. A second later, and we would have struck her head-on. I caught a glimpse of Valla as we blurred past; she wasn’t wearing a saddle anymore. My heart stopped, I looked frantically through the clouds below, searching for Sile.

  He was in freefall, lost somewhere in the haze.

  We hadn’t been trained to handle something like this yet. I couldn’t hear anything but the rush of wind, couldn’t see anything but the clouds all around us, but I could sense the ground was growing closer and closer with each passing second. If I couldn’t find him in time, if he hit the ground from this high up . . .

  Then I saw him.

  Sile was falling through the air like a stone. His helmet was missing, and I could see his mouth was open like he was screaming as he flailed through the air. He saw me in that same instant. Our eyes met, and I knew I was about to watch him die unless I did something.

  I leaned down against Mavrik’s back, squeezing the saddle handles and giving the signal for him to fly faster. The ground was getting closer. I could see it rushing up to meet us. Mavrik rolled to avoid cliffs as we glanced near the sides of the mountains.

  Just a few feet away from Sile, I reached my hand out toward him. He was clawing at the air, trying to grab onto me. I couldn’t reach him. My arms were just a few inches too short. I tried to lean out further, and still keep a grip on my own saddle. My fingertips brushed his. I saw the panic, the sheer terror in his eyes.

  Something came over me like a flood of eerie calm. Everything got quiet in my mind. Fear melted away. I let go of the saddle completely, anchored to it only with my feet in the sheaths, and lunged out toward him. I grabbed Sile by the front of his breastplate, and he clung to me as I drug him in toward the saddle.

  Sile just barely got his fingers hooked onto my saddle before we were jerked violently backwards. Mavrik flared his wings to put on the breaks, stretching out his hind legs and kicking off the ground just in time. He leapt back into the air, and I felt my heart jump into the back of my throat as the ground fell away again.

  When we landed safely back at the academy, I was shaking so badly I couldn’t even get out of the saddle at first. Felix landed nearby, and he was yelling and waving his arms as he ran toward us. Sile climbed down from where he’d been piggybacking on my saddle, and he looked shaken, too. He was cradling one of his arms against his body like he’d been hurt.

  I pulled off my helmet, taking a few deep breaths and trying to calm down. But I was still trembling all over, and feeling lightheaded like I might pass out. When I tried climbing down from the saddle, I got my foot stuck and I fell flat onto my back, looking up into the early morning sky. Mavrik’s big head appeared over me, sniffing and pressing his scaled nose against my chest.

  “Good job,” I told him breathlessly, patting his snout.

  Felix was frantic as he rushed over to haul me back up to my feet. “What happened?!”

  I shook my head. “I’m not sure. I think something happened to his saddle.”

  When I looked up to find Sile and ask him, he was walking away. An audience of other students and instructors was gathering around us. Someone had sounded the alarm when Valla had landed without a saddle or rider on her back.

  Sile was staggering away from us, and his face looked pasty. He leaned on one of the other instructors and hobbled away through the crowd. He didn’t even look back.

  Felix was looking me over like he was searching for damage. “How is that possible? I’ve never heard of that happening before. Someone would have to intentionally compromise it for it to just break like tha—” he stopped short, and gave me a wide-eyed look.

  I glared at him darkly. “Still think I’m just paranoid?”

  Felix didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. I could see on his face that this was bad. Someone had just tried to kill Sile Derrick by breaking his saddle on purpose. They’d tried to do it and make it look like a terrible accident.

  The instructors still standing around began shouting at us to move along, to get back to our routine. Gradually, everyone began to disperse. Felix gave me a little shove with his elbow, and I knew we had to get back to our own schedule. Sile wouldn’t want us slacking off, even if he was hurt.

  It took us longer to run our laps while dressed in full armor, but since our flight had been cut short, we still made it to the breaking dome before the call to arms sounded. All the other students in the academy flooded in, almost a hundred total. The older classes looked more distinguished, more like men or proud warriors, and they glared at me like there was a diseased mouse in their midst when we came inside.

  I stayed close to Felix, following him to stand at the front of the group with the other first-year fledglings. Academy Commander Rayken was talking with a few of the other high-ranking instructors in full battle armor, whispering to each other in low voices before they finally turned to the crowd of waiting students. The dome became silent, and we all watched as Rayken stepped forward to address us.

  “I’m sure you’ve all heard about Lieutenant Derrick’s unfortunate accident this morning,” the commander spoke loudly. “You’ll be relieved to hear that his injuries were minor, and he will be back in service tomorrow. Let this be a lesson to all of you. Check your gear each and every time you ride. Never assume anything, and be prepared for everything.”

  I swallowed stiffly, and was glad he hadn’t said anything about my involvement. I had a pretty good idea that people would look at me more as a culprit than a hero.

  The commander waved a hand then, dismissing that topic with no more ceremony. “Back to business. Allow me to welcome you to Blybrig Academy. For some of you, this is your first time to stand in our midst. For others, you are already a part of our brotherhood.”

  He went on, talking about the proud history of the dragonriders and our place as the pride of the king’s forces. It was inspiring to look around and see the other, older young men standing around me. We all wore the same style of uniform, tunics and bl
ack pants. But we fledglings all wore navy blue tunics with the golden eagle, while the second year students wore black tunics with blue stripes down the arms and sides. They also wore long navy blue cloaks pinned around their shoulders by a golden clasp shaped like the king’s eagle. It made them look way more professional and polished than we did.

  The older students also had a hardened ferocity in their eyes, and they stood stiffly at attention with their hands clasped behind their backs. I still didn’t see how I would ever fit in with these guys. I felt like a fox that’d been lined up with the hunting hounds. Sooner or later, someone was going to sound the horn and I would have to run for my life.

  The Academy Commander dismissed us with a salute, clasping a fist over his breastplate that all the older students returned with a shout. Then we started to break up into our respective classes. The older students left first, dispersing outside to go about their schedules, and the rest of us in the fledgling class started to flock to the gymnasium for our first round of combat training.

  The gymnasium was just a big, open building with a dirt floor. It was lit with bulky iron chandeliers that had thick candles burning, making the place feel like some kind of dungeon. There were practice dummies made out of straw lined up against the far walls, and several large chalk circles drawn out on the floor for sparring.

  The instructor in charge of teaching us combat was another lieutenant named Morrig. He wasn’t an especially large or burly man, but he had that same coldness in his eyes that made me immediately afraid of him. He gave us all blunt practice swords, and broke us up into groups of two. I made sure to partner with Felix. There were thirteen of us in all, so he pulled one student aside to be his partner while he showed us how to move through each maneuver.

  We started with simple parries and strikes, and ran through drills taking turns being offensive and defensive until everyone was exhausted. Then we moved on to hand-to-hand sparring.