How had I gotten into this ridiculous situation, anyway?
I walked and walked, time passing slowly as I steadily went over the flat terrain. Somewhere after midnight, I got tired of stumbling over my own feet and called it quits. I felt drained of all energy, dehydrated, and more than ready to be horizontal for a while. I sat down in the middle of this open space, pulled out my bedroll, and fell into it without even bothering to take my boots off. I probably should have pulled out the tent and set it up, but honestly, I didn’t want to. Too tired. I did put the fire barrier back up, not for protection (as the dragon obviously had no ill intent) but to keep me warmer. The desert nights could be bitterly cold. With a sigh, I let my eyes fall shut and went fast to sleep.
I woke up the next morning to another surprise. At some point in the night, my visitor had moved until she half-wrapped around my campsite, just avoiding touching my shields. Stretched out like she was, she could nearly touch the tip of her nose to her tail. Just how long was she? Twenty feet? Twenty-five?
The more I looked at her position, the clearer it became to me that there was nothing threatening about it. She was protecting me. There was no other explanation for why she was acting as a living barrier between me and the outside world.
I called Cora again. “Cora?” there was a long pause before I ventured again, “Cora?”
From the mirror, I heard the sound of some light thumps, like someone fumbling for something, and then a grumpy voice, “Krys, do you know what time it is?”
“Morning,” I answered dryly.
“Argh. What is it now?”
“She’s wrapped around me.”
“…What?!”
“She’s wrapped around me,” I repeated a little uneasily. “Well, she’s actually wrapped around the perimeter of my shield, as it’s still up, but you get the idea.”
“Krys, do you know what that means?”
“I’m hoping I don’t, actually, as I can only think of one reason why she’s acting like this.”
“She’s adopted you.”
I slumped dejectedly. “I hate it when I’m right.”
Cora sounded like she was trying not to laugh, but not doing a very good job, because I could hear her clearly. “Well, Krys, congratulations. You have found a splendid familiar.”
“Not funny, Cora.”
“I know this isn’t what you had in mind, but think about it!” she encouraged, still laughing. “What more perfect mount could there be for a Fire Mage? She likes fire, like you do. She can transport you quickly to jobs—”
“—she eats whole sheep for breakfast, is too large to fit into any stable, assuming that any inn would let her near their place,” I interrupted sarcastically, “not to mention the general panic she’s going to cause when people see her! Oh yes, a perfect mount indeed.”
“Once people get used to her, you’ll be fine. Besides, dragons do their own hunting. You won’t have to bear the expense of feeding her.”
“No, I just have to make sure she doesn’t raid some farmer’s herd,” I retorted with a roll of the eyes.
“If dragons are really as intelligent as a dragoo, it shouldn’t be difficult to train her.”
“You’re only encouraging this because you think it’s hilarious,” I accused her grumpily.
“It is!” she said, finally laughing outright. “You’ll go down in legend. I can see it now. ‘The Fire Mage that a dragon fell in love with.’ Doesn’t that have a nice ring?”
“I thought we were leaving the legend making up to Garth.”
“Naw, we can’t let him have all the glory. Besides, he doesn’t want it.”
That was true. I’d always been bemused that a man who didn’t want any recognition was so universally famous. I looked at the now awake dragon, feeling a sort of inevitability to all of this.
“Cora…are you really saying I don’t have any chance of getting rid of her?”
“From the signs, I’d say that being adopted by a dragon is like being adopted by a meuritta. Once they like you, you’re stuck with them.”
Great. That was just great. “I need to think about this,” I sighed.
“All right,” she agreed, semi-sympathetic now. “Call me if something else comes up.”
“Right.” I put the mirror down and then shifted to look straight at the dragon, trying to think of the pros and cons of this.
As I’d told Cora, there were some pretty hefty cons. Dragons had fierce reputations among the general populace. I’d have to do some pretty fast talking to convince anyone to let her near their towns. Although, come to think of it, that might not be as hard as it sounded. A lot of people thought that mages could do anything. If they knew she was my mount, would I really have that much trouble?
Cora had said they did their own hunting, so I wouldn’t have to worry about feeding her. I might have a few rough first weeks though, until she understood where she could hunt.
Staying at inns would be nearly impossible, though, I was certain about that. If she was this protective of me, I doubt she’d let me out of her sight easily. She might be as bad as Night. Garth had told me stories about how awful Night was at first. Would she get better over time like Night did? Or stay possessive?
Still…what would it be like to be able to fly? Some Fire Mages could fly, using extreme and concentrated heat to propel them through the skies. I could only manage short distances without accidentally crashing into something. I’d never gotten the hang of it. If she were my mount, I could fly anywhere I wished for long distances. Would that ability be worth the rest of the hassle?
I wasn’t sure.
Chapter Two: Words
Without knowing what else to do, I started walking south, back toward Sol. I’m a pretty active thinker—I like to pace when I’m mulling something over. It was a good three days walk back to the Sol border, so it gave me plenty of time to think.
I wasn’t in the least surprised when my dragon companion trailed after me. She kept her distance—about five feet, more or less—but she didn’t try to hide or pretend she wasn’t following me.
Great.
One of the problems that kept me from deciding one way or another was that I wasn’t sure how intelligent she was. If she was as intelligent as a dragoo, then all was good. I could train her well enough to be around people. If not…it was sure to be as disastrous as a meuritta in a clothing store.
Well, let’s start with the basics. Let’s see how quickly she could learn. I turned slightly toward her, lifting my palm so that she could see. On the face of my hand, I let a good sized fire dance.
“Fire.”
Her ears shifted forward, eyes on the fire in my hand.
I let the fire go out, trying not to smile when she looked disappointed. After a second, I created another fire in my hand. “Fire.”
“Fi…re…” she repeated slowly in a surprisingly light voice.
I gaped at her, trying to keep my jaw from crash landing into the ground. She learned things that quickly?! Hayate didn’t pick things up that fast! All right, try another word; see if it was a fluke. I put my weapons shield up, the one that glows to the naked eye. “Shield.”
“Shhhhield,” she repeated in a decidedly disgruntled tone. She obviously didn’t like my shield.
Great good magic, I couldn’t believe it. As intelligent as a dragoo? I’d say she was about three notches above. If she learned this quickly, training her to be around people would be a walk in the park. My reservations were quickly being ambushed by my desire to have her. I admit, as a kid I’d fantasized about owning my own dragon. Right now, the kid was definitely winning over my adult side.
I couldn’t rush into this. I’d been prepared to spend a month training a dragoo. I shouldn’t try to decide on whether to keep a dragon in five minutes. Putting my pack down, I cautiously approached her, one hand held out. “Friend.”
“Fri…end?” she repeated in confusion, mouth tripping a bit over the ‘n’ sound.
“Frien
d,” I repeated slowly. “I’d like to be friends.” A foot away from her, I stopped. She was still confused, not quite sure what I was doing. I didn’t want to spook her by pushing things too far too fast and getting my hand bitten off in the process. I thought about it for a second, trying to come up with the right approach. Cora said that dragons play around with fire in order to attract each other. Maybe I should do a bit of fire juggling again.
With a cautious eye on her, I started flipping about four fireballs around my head and shoulders.
“Fire!” she cried out in delight, tail thumping in a happy rhythm.
I jumped a bit when she lifted her head and let out a short burst of flame. Wow, I’d gotten her pretty excited, hadn’t I? Before her fire could disperse, I caught it and weaved it in with my fireballs. This delighted her no end and she spat out two more in quick succession.
“Wait, wait, I can’t keep up!” I pleaded laughing, trying to catch both. By some miracle, I did, although I had to drop one of my fireballs to do it.
From deep within her chest there was a rough rumbling noise, similar to the sound a large predator cat would make. Was she…purring? It certainly sounded like it. Her eyes were half-closed too, expression one of absolute contentment.
One by one, I let the balls fade. She didn’t seem to mind this time, though. Instead, she looked very intently at me.
Judging that she (probably) wouldn’t take my hand off, I closed that last bit of distance between us and lightly touched the tip of her nose. It was softer than I’d imagined, like a rough velvet, and incredibly warm. After blinking at me a few times, she pushed back, making the contact firmer.
“Friend,” I repeated to her.
“Fire-friend,” she said, apparently agreeing with me.
That worked for me. I turned, picked up my pack, and acted as if I would continue walking. “Follow?”
This time, as I walked, she walked next to me. I taught her more words as we walked, simple things that I could explain. Sun, water, food, etc. She absorbed it all quickly. I always stopped after every five words or so and reviewed them with her. I knew from experience that if you didn’t review what you just learned, you’d lose it quickly. Still, by the time the sun set, she had a vocabulary of nearly fifty words. Particles and sentence structure were beyond her and likely always would be—still, she could get her point across. I was very impressed with how intelligent and attentive she was. If I truly were destined to be adopted by a dragon, at least fate had been kind enough to send me one that I could work with.
I camped that night like I had previous nights by just stopping at random, putting my pack down, and digging out things to set up camp. Things had shifted a bit in my pack as I’d walked that day, so I was forced to untie my tent in order to get to my pack of food. As soon as I put it on the ground, she caught it with her front teeth and flipped it a good twenty feet away with a toss of her head.
“Hey!” I protested, more surprised than angry. “Why did you do that?”
She didn’t respond, but not because she was ignoring me; more like she couldn’t find a word to explain.
I pointed to it. “Tent.”
“Tent,” she repeated but the way she said it, it was more like a cuss word.
“Don’t like tent?” I asked her. Whoops, wait, I hadn’t explained yet ‘like’ and ‘dislike.’ She tilted her head, confused. All right, how on earth do you explain liking something… “Fire?” I asked, lighting my hand up with a brilliant flame.
“Fire!” she exclaimed, bobbing her head.
“Like fire,” I continued, hoping she caught on. This was a bit trickier to explain than everything else.
“Like fire?” she stared at the flame on my hand as if she had an idea of what I meant, but wasn’t quite sure.
I pointed to the tent with my free hand. “Not like tent,” and I said it in disapproving tones.
She blinked, and I could see it in her eyes, she knew what I meant now. “Not like tent!” she said forcefully. “Like see.”
“You like to see me?”
Her head bobbed up and down again, firmly. “Like see.”
Oh boy. Yes, she was every bit as bad as Night. He’d thrown a fit too when he didn’t have Garth within sight. Garth told me it had taken nearly a year for Night to grow out of that.
“Tent good,” I tried reasoning with her. “Tent protect.”
She snorted at this, and drawing herself up in a dignified way, archly informed me, “I protect.”
I took it back. She was worse than Night ever was.
All right, granted, I didn’t really need the tent out here in the desert. Right now it wasn’t a critical issue. Later, once I’d taught her more words, I could convince her that me being inside a tent was fine. So for now, I left it alone, and went back to rummaging around for dinner.
Of course, I had enough food to feed me, but she wouldn’t be interested in anything in my pack. I pointed off toward the distance. “Go get food.”
She hesitated, looking at me uncertainly, shifting slightly from foot to foot. “You go?”
“I’ll stay,” I assured her, pointing from my chest and then to the ground. “Not move. You go hunt.”
Reassured I wouldn’t disappear on her, she shifted about, spreading her wings, and then took off in a powerful up-thrust. The force of it sent me back a step, and I threw a hand up to shield my eyes as some of the loose sand kicked up and swirled about. Wow. The air ruffled my hair and clothing, warm and slightly gritty, which felt nice for the brief moments it lasted. I wondered what it would be like riding her….
Considering how slick she was, I wasn’t about to attempt it until I had some sort of harness to hold onto.
I went about cooking dinner. I was halfway through my plate when the mirror activated.
“Krys?”
I had to swallow hastily to answer. “Hi, Cora.”
“So, any developments?”
Oh boy was there ever. I felt a nice little hum of anticipation. This was going to blow her mind. “It turns out dragons are quite a bit smarter than dragoos.”
A weighty pause. “And how do you know that?”
“I’ve been talking to her most of the day,” I admitted. “She picks up words amazingly fast.”
“Wait, wait, back that carriage up. What do you mean, you’ve been talking to her? This morning, you didn’t want a dragon for a familiar!”
“Yeah, well, I changed my mind.” Since she couldn’t see me, I allowed myself a cheeky grin. “I started weighing pros and cons…and I figured that if she really is intelligent enough to train, the pros would outweigh the cons. As it turns out, she’s much more intelligent than I thought she’d be. I think she’ll be great as my familiar.”
“Busted buckets!” Cora sounded more entertained than anything. “So how many words have you taught her?”
“About fifty.”
“In one day?” she exclaimed, shocked.
“I told you she’s quick. Surprises me, too. Oh, and she’s every bit as possessive and protective as Night ever was, if you’re to believe Garth’s version of the story.”
“I normally do; he’s not one to really exaggerate. Wow. She really does like you. I never would have thought a dragon would form this kind of attachment to a human, though.”
“I’m not sure she would have if I weren’t a Fire Mage.”
“Good point. So I take it you’re on your way home?”
“If by ‘home’ you mean the Isle, yeah. I need a little help figuring out how to train her well enough to ride her. I figure a Life Mage can get the point across a lot faster than I can.”
“Oh no, I am not training your dragon for you. Forget it.”
I nearly protested until I realized why she was saying that. “You want to enjoy the show while I fumble around trying to figure it out, don’t you?”
“I didn’t say that,” she retorted innocently.
“Ha!”
“Besides, the bond between you two will be tig
hter if you do it all yourself.”
“I’m not buying that, Cora, not one bit.”
“Well, you probably don’t have much to worry about, not with the way she’s picking up vocabulary. Say, Krys, do you still want Garth to come up and give you a ride?”
“Um…” I had to think about that. It’d be nice to not have to walk all the way back. On the other hand, “I doubt she’d go on the earth path.”
“Hmmm, you might have a point. Well, I’ll see if I can catch Garth. He might come up anyway just to see for himself how you’re doing.”
That sounded like something he’d do. For Garth, taking care of other people was second nature.
“So what are you going to name her?”
Funny, as much time as I’d spent thinking about how to train her and what it would be like spending the next who-knows-how-many-years with her, naming her hadn’t even crossed my mind.
“I have no idea. What would be a good girl name for a dragon?”
This seemed to amuse Cora. “Better question is can you think of a name for her that she’ll like?”
Argh. Dragon or not, she was a girl, and every girl under the suns had an opinion on things. “Wish me luck.”
“Sounds like you might need it. Oh, and Nolan wants me to tell you that if you find another dragon wandering up there, he wants one too.”
“You can tell Nolan from me that his grandfather would have a heart attack,” I responded dryly. Nolan would, no doubt, own a zoo when he got old enough. After all, who could tell their king that he couldn’t keep all the animals he wanted to? I prophesied that by the time he inherited the throne, the palace would be a menagerie. “It’s a moot point anyway, she’s the only one near me. Speaking of…” I heard the sound of wings and turned, scanning the sky until I spotted her, “…she’s back.”
“We’ll talk to you later, then. Night, Krys.”
“Night.” I put the mirror back in my pocket, turning to watch as my dragon settled back to the earth. She licked her chops clean as she touched down with a heavy thump that vibrated the ground. By the look of things, she had found some food. Her stomach pouched out a bit. “Good hunting?”
Dragon's Mage (An Advent Mage Novel), The - Raconteur, Honor Page 3
