The monster hissed and screeched again, but disappeared into the twilight sky.
Kyra crawled over to Guardian’s bottom half and placed a hand on either side of the torn body and cried. Within moments, overcome with grief from the loss of her friend and fatigue brought on by the large expenditure of magic, Kyra slid down to lean upon the rock and passed out.
Many hours later when the night had covered the land in darkness and a cold wind blew in from the south Kyra felt a pair of hands slide under her. One wrapped around her back, sliding one of her own arms over a pair of shoulders, while another hooked under her knees. She felt the sudden jerk, and then the rocks fell away from below her. Despite the disturbance, Kyra still could not fully regain her consciousness. Her body still demanded rest from the overexertion earlier that day.
Her head bobbed up and down and her feet dangled loosely, bouncing in sync with her head. Finally she felt her cheek fall against a warm, firm chest. She noticed a large tree pass by in front of her, but she was not fully aware that she was being carried away. A voice said something to her, but she could not understand the words.
After a while, her ears finally distinguished the sounds of footsteps below with their sturdy, dull thumps falling in rhythm with her bouncing feet. A twig snapped below and suddenly she twisted out as the person carrying her turned to move sideways beyond a large thorny bush that just managed to scratch Kyra’s left ankle with one of its barbs. Perhaps she had rested enough to wake, or more likely the sudden scratch from the thorn forced her body to come to its senses, but whatever the reason she finally woke and realized where she was.
She could see the lights of Kuldiga Academy breaking through the wall of trees. Only a few more minutes and she would be out of the forest. She looked up to see who was carrying her, expecting Feberik or perhaps even Cyrus. The face was covered in shadow but as soon as her rescuer realized she was awake he spoke to her.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,” promised the voice of a young man.
It wasn’t either Feberik or Cyrus. It was Kathair Lepkin, the boy who had trounced thirty apprentices and an instructor in Kuldiga Academy’s courtyard. Suddenly a panic came over Kyra as she remembered the creature that hunted the egg.
“Let me go!” Kyra wrenched herself free and drop to her feet.
“Be careful,” he said. “You’re still weak.”
Kyra moved to walk beyond him, but stumbled and started to fall. Kathair caught her and propped her up.
“Let me go,” Kyra demanded.
“You need to rest.”
“You don’t understand, I have to go back!” Kyra pushed away from him and lifted her hand to summon an orb of light to help her see. The spell failed. Barely more light than that of a fleeting spark ignited in the air over her hand before popping and fizzing into darkness. She started to fall again, but Kathair was right there to steady her.
“Please, everything is all right, but I must get you to your room before anyone sees you.”
Kyra started to cry. She was so tired that tears would not form and her eyes burned. “You don’t understand, I have to go back.”
Kathair gently guided her down to the ground so that the two of them knelt on their knees face-to-face. “You need not worry. I moved it, it’s safe.”
Kyra looked up in her mouth fell open. “You moved what?”
Kathair placed a hand on each shoulder to steady her. “I found a good place to hide the egg. Nothing will find it again. Tomorrow, after you have rested, I can take you back to it.”
Kyra formed a weak fist and thumped him on the chest. “No! You can’t move it, it will not have enough warmth for the night. I had a spell on it.”
“Trust me, it’s safe. I don’t have any magic, but I know how to make a fire. After I hid the egg I heated several rocks. When each one began to glow and hold heat, I formed a nest out of them. The rocks will hold the heat through the night. Then, tomorrow you can put your spell on it again after you have rested.” He pushed her back from him and fiddled with something at his waist. She couldn’t see what he was doing because of the darkness, but his hands worked with something for several seconds before a small satchel was placed in her lap. “I didn’t know what else to do, so I used some large leaves to wrap the body of your small lizard pet.” A short silence ensued as the words trailed off into the night. “I thought you might want to bury it.”
Kyra nodded and took the satchel in her hands.
“Come on, let’s go before someone finds us here.” The two of them got up to leave. Kathair wrapped an arm around Kyra and helped her walk the rest of the way back to Kuldiga Academy, and then to her room.
Neither of them noticed Feberik Orres watching them from an upper story window.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The next day Kathair took Kyra to a deep cavern a short distance from the rocky area where the egg had been discovered. He again promised not to disclose the egg’s existence to anyone. Kyra returned as often as her studies, and her duties with Janik would let her, but Kathair was often kept away by some intensive training program. Apparently, he was too dangerous to allow to mix with the other apprentices the same as she was. She had even heard that a few of the sword Masters would take Kathair out of the Academy for several days at a time for field studies.
Kyra continued to read books to the egg and set spells to protect and warm it. She excelled in her studies with Cyrus, outpacing even his expectations for her development. Even still, she kept the ethereal creature a secret from Cyrus, preferring to dive into the subject through books rather than discuss the issue with anyone and risk the secret of the egg being uncovered. The days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months. The autumn leaves fell, leaving the trees bare and stick like, except for the evergreens which stood staunch and stoic in their place as winter set in and covered the land in a blanket of white snow.
Soon, the mid winter festival was upon them. All of the apprentices hustled and bustled about, decorating their halls and dorms and offering gifts to one another. The winter solstice was never a holiday that Kyra understood. She had heard that it was a celebration of hope, a sign that longer days would soon be coming and things would turn for the better again, spawning new life and renewal throughout the Middle Kingdom, but it still seemed an awkward time for such celebrations. By definition the winter solstice was the shortest day of the year. It was always cold, and the night was quick to end any sunlight that dared to reach into the wintry land. This particular midwinter festival seemed colder than most, for it was the first without her mother.
Kyra’s mother had never been a fan of the festival either. There had always seemed to be something on her mind. Lady Zana often spent additional time creating wards and staring out the window to the south, as if she had expected something to come out from the darkness. Of course, whenever Kyra had asked her mother about it, Lady Zana smiled gently and would say that there was nothing to worry about, but that she was only waiting for the dark to be over.
Kyra’s father, on the other hand, was very fond of midwinter festival. He often recited the history of its origin, and lauded those who had created the holiday. He always insisted on reenacting the traditional rite of placing an apple wood log in the fire while the family drank spiced cider and sang the traditional songs. His gifts were usually something that he would like more than a thoughtful present for the receiver, but it was one of the few times he seemed genuinely happy to be around people more than his books.
Even that had been taken away from her this year. Her father was not coming to get her. Instead, while all of the other apprentices prepared to go home for a three week holiday, Kyra received a letter from her father telling her that she would be staying in her dorm.
She glanced down at the unopened letter sitting on the library table in front of her. She reached out and turned the envelope over in her hand, studying her family seal embossed in the wax that held the envelope closed. She had thought to open it when she first received it in th
e morning the day before, but the more she looked at the envelope the less she wanted to know its contents. She knew her father well enough to guess what it would say. There would be a short report about the weather since her absence, followed by an accounting of the chickens and other livestock animals, and ended briefly with a list of books that had been acquired after her departure from the house. Perhaps there would be a small portion where he would question where some of his books had gone, as they had been secretly tucked into Kyra’s belongings by her mother before she went to Kuldiga academy, but that would likely be the only departure from the otherwise drab and stale letter. The signature at the bottom most appropriately would be signed in a businesslike manner, the same as her father would write to any other acquaintance with whom he had to deal with personally.
Knowing that, what reason was there for her to open the envelope? At least this way, with the seal still intact, there was a part of her that could pretend that things were different. Somewhere inside her mind, she could allow for the possibility that her father had written a loving, tender letter expressing how sorry he was that he could not come and get her and how much he missed her and her mother.
If she were to break the seal, she would also dispel that fantasy.
She pushed the letter away from her on the desk, rose to her feet, and went to the window. She looked down into the courtyard and saw a mass of apprentices circled and gathered around a large bonfire. The various Masters observed the apprentices to ensure order, and some even doled out mugs of cider while the group broke into song. Many of the students had already gone home the day before, but others waited to be picked up tonight. It was common enough for those who lived farther away to be among the last to leave.
The door to the library closed, sending a low echo throughout the hall. Kyra turned expectantly, looking as far as she could see before a bookcase obstructed her view of the library’s entrance. She could hear the pit pat of feet walking toward her. For a moment she worried that it might be Feberik, but she dismissed that thought as she listened to the light footsteps. His boots always fell heavy upon the floor. She also knew that it was not Janik, for his left leg would drag due to his terrible limp, and she did not hear any sign of that. She thought perhaps it was Cyrus, but doubted that because the steps were a little faster than his usual pace. She turned and went toward the edge of the row of bookcases she was in so she could discover who her visitor was.
She smiled when she saw the dark-haired, blue-eyed young man that had helped her save herself and her egg.
“Not going back for the festival holidays?” Kyra asked.
“No, the elf who raised me is in the Eastern Wilds, fighting Tarthuns. There is little reason for me to go back now.”
“I would like to see the city of the elves. Tualdern has long been a place I have wanted to visit and experience,” Kyra said.
Kathair smiled. “Then in that case, perhaps someday I will go back, as long as you go with me.”
Kyra blushed a bit and nodded her head, agreeing to the innocent, fanciful date. Kathair spotted the letter on the table and pointed to it.
“From your family?”
Kyra shrugged. “It’s from my father.”
“Aren’t you going to open it?”
Kyra shook her head. “The headmaster has already informed me that he received a letter from my father saying that I was to stay here for the midwinter festival holiday. I suppose it is his way of keeping me closer to Master Orres, and protecting his investment.”
Kathair frowned toward the table. He scooped the envelope up in his hand and turned it over a few times. “Don’t worry, I won’t open it either,” he said. “I never get any letters, so I thought it would be fun just to hold one for a minute.” He offered her a sly wink and set the letter back on the table. “How is your friend doing?”
Kyra smiled wide. It was good to have someone she could share her secret with. She moved toward the table and sat down. “I guess he’s doing well,” she said. “Hard to tell, really, since I can’t see inside the shell.”
“Does your book say when he should hatch?”
Kyra shook her head. “Best I can figure, is it will hatch sometime in the spring. The books mentioned not only the type of dragon but also that the abundance of magic in an area can affect when the egg matures and hatches. I have tried to find other books that discuss this very subject, but haven’t had much luck yet.”
“Have you asked Cyrus?” Kathair pressed.
“I did ask him about the magic abundance in the Middle Kingdom,” Kyra said. “He didn’t really give me a straight answer. Instead he launched into a lecture about how magic is passed from parent to child.”
Kathair waved a hand in the air. “Everyone knows that. If he is going to give you such a basic lesson on magic he should have started with what a Shadowfiend is and how they create deals with the demons in order to get magic because their parents never had magic to pass to them.”
“He did,” Kyra said dryly with a roll of her eyes. “I was stuck there for nearly an hour listening to the origins of the first Shadowfiends. It was interesting for the first few minutes, but by the time twenty minutes had passed I was already gone. I just kept nodding my head and he just kept talking.”
The young Apprentice of the Sword tapped a finger on the letter beside him. His face went from one of mirth to a more somber expression. He glanced up toward the window, as if to think of something else to say before breaking some sort of bad news, but in the end he shook his head and looked back to Kyra.
Sensing his apprehension, she broached the subject for him. “What is it?”
“You know that the headmaster has sent me on field expeditions over the last several weeks, don’t you?” Kathair asked.
Kyra nodded her head and waited for the young man to finish.
“I have been training with different groups of dragon slayers,” he said suddenly.
Kyra shook her head. “That is impossible! Nobody works with dragon slayers until after their graduation. Even then most of them have to go through additional training at Ten Forts before they can be permitted to work with the dragon slayers.”
Kathair nodded. He picked the envelope up again and fiddled with it, staring at it instead of looking to Kyra as he continued. “Well, I have. I’m the only first-year apprentice in the history of Kuldiga Academy to work in the field, let alone with the dragon slayers. Anyway, I don’t bring this up to boast. There is something you need to know. I wanted to warn you about it.”
“About what?”
Kathair thumped the letter onto the table and sighed. “There is a group of them coming tomorrow morning. You have to move the egg.”
Kyra’s heart sank. A wave of fear came over her, but it was quickly replaced by a hot, boiling anger that rose within her chest. “Did you tell them?”
He shook his head quickly and looked into her eyes. “No, no, nothing like that. It’s only that they will take me with them. It is part of my training, to take me to diverse areas looking for signs of dragons. They intend to go into the forest. It isn’t because of the egg, but rather because many years ago there were several dragons that lived nearby. I guess this was during a time when the dragons were still mostly good. I heard that the dragons were able to lend their teachings to some of the apprentices here. In any case, there are some different nests in the forest that are centuries old, as well as sites with bones, and they want me to look at those.”
“I haven’t seen anything like that,” Kyra replied.
“The first place where the egg was, I think that is one of the nests they are talking about. In the old times there would be scores of eggs there. All of the rocks and boulders have been carved out of the mountain and brought to that spot to create a nest that they could continually keep warm. I don’t know that the dragon slayers will want to go into the cave where the egg is now, but it is so close to the nest, that I would hate to risk it. You will have to move it tonight.”
“Come wit
h me, we can move it now,” Kyra said.
“I can’t. In fact, I should probably leave,” Kathair replied.
“But why?”
Kathair glanced toward the doorway and sighed. “Your fiancé was quick to give me a warning upon my return this time. He made it extremely clear that he saw us coming out of the woods several weeks ago, and that he is partially responsible for some of my fieldwork. Though, I am sure my escapade in the courtyard with the other apprentices had just as much to do with it as anything else, but still we should be careful.”
“But we haven’t done anything,” Kyra protested. “Am I not allowed to have friends now?”
Kathair smiled and his eyes twinkled at her. “I am now, and will always be your friend. Even after you marry that brutish oaf, I will still be around. I don’t fear anything he could do. Honestly, out of the three of us, if I were to fear anyone, it would be you.” Kathair offered a playful smile.
Kyra returned the smile. She knew of course that he was refering to the night that he helped her escape the forest. Afterward he had told her that he had seen the last half of the battle. He swore that he was charging in to help finish the strange monster, but had stopped when she had brought out a tornado made of fire. She looked at him then, locking eyes briefly with him and her face reddened.
“I should go,” she said. “The egg is going to be difficult to move on my own.”
Kathair nodded briefly. “I should go too. I am sure Master Orres will come looking for you soon. I will go to my dorm. Perhaps that would draw his attention toward me.”
“Thank you.”
He smiled wide and then slid off the table. He went a few paces and then turned back and pointed to the letter. “You really should open it. You never know what kind of opportunity there is if you never try to peek inside.” The expression on his face made her wonder if he was only talking about the letter. She watched the young man walk away and thought about what it might be like to travel with him to Tualdern. Maybe they were only friends now, but perhaps there could be other possibilities for them.
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