I stopped and closed my eyes, focusing. As I did, there came a faint sense of heat within me. It was vague, but enough that I thought I could use it.
I started toward it.
Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, the sense of the dragon that I thought I felt came from the opposite direction than I believed I needed to be going. As I trailed after it, I let it call to me.
At one point, I thought I felt another tug of dragon energy, but it was faint and it flickered quickly before disappearing altogether. I stopped, looked around, and realized I was in a small clearing. The stream I thought I’d passed before ran through here; the water rushed past some rocks and caused it to burble. I took a drink. If I were able to make my way back to the city, it was still going to be a long walk.
I might be able to follow this stream. It was possible it would lead me back, though I didn’t know for sure. I didn’t recall any stream within the city. More likely, I would end up wandering aimlessly, getting lost deeper into the forest. Right now, I had the awareness of the dragons that I could hold onto, and I could use that to guide me back to where I needed to go. If I held onto that awareness, it should guide me to the city.
I followed it.
It seemed as if every thirty minutes or so, a different flicker of power came, typically behind me—and with each one, I could feel the draw of the dragon power. Maybe there were other dragons out in the forest, and perhaps that was part of the test. I could imagine Jerith placing other dragons out there, using them to see if it would be possible for me to find my way back.
The sense of those other dragons didn’t last very long, flickering for only a few moments before disappearing altogether. I had to believe that mattered.
I continued walking toward the power I felt.
It was faint and vague, but I used that to guide me. It was starting to grow dark by the time I heard a sound in the trees. It was a soft rustling, little more than that, but it was near to me.
I froze, looking around to see if it was something that might pose a danger. There were wolves within the forest, maybe even the native camin, small catlike creatures that hunted in the treetops, and though it was uncommon for the wolves to attack people, I had to believe that I might seem a particularly easy target. I was unarmed. I had to change that.
Perhaps I should’ve changed that after the Djarn had surrounded me. Not attacked. But I don’t think I did attack. Whatever had happened to me and thrown me back had been my own fault. It had come when I had tried to harness the power from the dragons, trying to open myself to it. I didn’t have any control, and if that power had flown through me, then it had knocked me back.
I found a fallen branch that was a reasonable length. Then I started forward, using what I could feel of the distant dragons in the city to guide me.
I hadn’t gone very far when I caught a flash of brown fur through the trees.
I froze.
It might be nothing more than a deer, but the movement felt off.
I started forward again. I tried to make as much noise as I could. Most creatures would be scared off, unless it was a pack of wolves hunting me. I had to believe I was getting close to the city, which would make anything living on the edge of the forest unlikely—at least, anything dangerous.
Another flicker of fur caught my attention.
It was large. Larger than a wolf.
There were very few things of that size that I knew of.
I had some ideas of what it could be. If it were a mesahn, then one of the Hunters would have to be there with it.
I was not under attack. They worked with the kingdom, and would not attack.
I moved forward and continued to bang on trees with the branch I had grabbed. With each tree that I passed, I smacked the branch across it, the crack ringing out. When I neared the edge of the forest—the city now outlined in view, moonlight glinting off of some of the pale stone and the wall surrounding the outskirts of the city—a soft laugh drifted through the forest behind me.
I spun, holding up the branch.
“You were certainly making plenty of noise,” a familiar voice said.
I frowned, squinting into the darkness. “Manuel?”
He strode forward out of the forest, and his mesahn prowled alongside him, with Manuel resting one hand on the mesahn’s neck. He was dressed in a forest green jacket and pants, and he looked more robust than the last time that I had seen him. He was clean-shaven, at least mostly so, though a faint outline of a beard lined his chin. His hair was cut short, and he had a short sword sheathed at his side. “I kept thinking that you would see me.”
“I saw the mesahn,” I said.
Another man stood behind Manuel, tall with black hair and a green cloak so that he blended into the forest, which reminded me of the Djarn.
“Did you?”
I turned my attention back to Manuel. The other man was probably another Hunter. “I saw some of the fur, but I didn’t see you, so . . .”
He grinned at me. “You decided to make as much noise as possible.”
“I was just trying to get out of the forest,” I said.
“Why? Are you afraid of the forest? I suppose after what happened to you before that wouldn’t be altogether surprising, but you never struck me as one to be fearful of such things.”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t be normally, but I got stuck. I was supposed to follow a dragon and ended up a little bit lost.”
“Ah. A testing, then.” He glanced back at the other man, who had slipped away through the forest.
I followed him with my eyes until he disappeared from my view.
Turning back to Manuel, I shrugged. “I suppose.”
“What happened?” Manuel asked.
“I got pulled into the forest and ended up more lost than I expected,” I said. “Then several of the Djarn surrounded me.”
Manuel stiffened suddenly. “More than one? They’ve been moving, but that is surprising.” He turned to the forest, frowning. The mesahn seemed to tense, the muscles beneath his fur rippling. “Where were you?”
“Several hours into the forest,” I said. “Why?”
Manuel turned back to me, locking eyes with me for a moment. “It’s just that it’s unusual for us to see the Djarn so close to the city. Unfortunately, we’ve encountered them a bit more often lately than we usually do.”
“We?”
Manuel nodded toward where the other man had disappeared. “Donathar was with me the last stretch.”
“Another Hunter?”
Manuel shook his head. “Mage. He’s been out of the city for a while. I hadn’t expected to find him in the forest while I was tracking down . . . ah, I guess what I was doing doesn’t matter. Don’t think Donathar expected to find me either.”
There was something in the way he said it that suggested Manuel was troubled.
I doubted he’d share more with me.
“Is there a problem with the Djarn? I thought the kingdom and the Djarn had peace.”
Manuel nodded. “There is peace, but that doesn’t mean the Djarn won’t cause trouble.”
He stared off into the forest, and I had a feeling he might decide to go after the Djarn, though given my experience with them, I doubted he would find anything out there. I had seen them myself and hadn’t even been able to go after them.
“You should get back,” Manuel said. “It’s getting late, and I’m sure that your instructors will be interested in knowing that you made it back and passed the test.”
I grunted. “I’m not even sure if I did pass. I got drawn out of the forest and followed the dragon they’d sent out, but couldn’t use him to follow them back. He disappeared from me.”
“How did you find your way back?”
“I used the dragons in the city,” I said, shrugging. “I was lucky I could still feel them.”
He studied me for a moment. “I’m not so sure that was luck. Seems to me that is a bit of skill. Perhaps you’ve been growing far more t
han you realize.” Manuel whistled softly, and the mesahn went bounding off into the forest.
“You’re leaving again?” I asked.
“For now,” Manuel said. Manuel glanced over to the city. “I don’t go into the city very often these days. I find I’m far more comfortable wandering beyond her borders. Sometimes, though, I end up drawn into the city and its politics and all of that, usually against my will.”
I started to laugh, and realized he wasn’t joking.
“What sort of politics would you get drawn into?”
“You’d be surprised,” Manuel said. “Unfortunately, there are more politics at play within our city than most are aware of.”
“Even with the king?”
“I think the king encourages them,” Manuel said. “He likes a little bit of drama. I think he needs a little bit of drama, considering how powerful his dragon riders are.” Manuel fell silent, watching me for a moment. Finally, he turned and stared out toward the forest. “It’s why I wanted to be a Hunter. I’m drawn to the solitude.” He glanced over at me again, flashing a hint of a smile. “I suspect you understand.”
I did, and nodded.
There were times when I would have wanted nothing more than to be alone.
That wouldn’t teach me how to use the dragon connection though.
“Maybe I could connect to the mesahn,” I said.
“Maybe.” He glanced toward the Academy. “I suppose that I should get back to my work. When I heard you banging your way through the forest like some sort of blind person, I had to at least say hello.” Manuel grinned at me.
I had made a lot of noise as I had come through here. And I wasn’t about to feel bad about it, either. I didn’t know what was out there, and it could have been some animal.
Manuel slipped away, disappearing back into the darkness of the forest. It didn’t take long before I couldn’t see him at all.
I turned toward the city, heading back at a jog. The closer I got to the city, the more that the energy of the dragons pulled upon me. I could feel the heat within them, the mixture of powers coming from the dragons within the barracks where they were held. Strangely, I still couldn’t feel the heat and energy of the black dragon. I figured I should be aware of him, especially as he had to have returned.
When I reached the entrance to the Academy situated on the outskirts of the city, I pulled open the oaken door and stepped into the stone hall. Dragon sculptures lined the hallway, lanterns flickering in the jaws of the dragons, as if they were breathing fire in the building itself. I hurried through the halls then paused for a moment. I was tired, especially after a day spent wandering the forest, and wanted nothing more than to go to bed and rest, but I thought that I needed to report to Jerith and let him know that I had returned.
I headed up the wide stone staircase that led to the instructors’ quarters. More dragon sculptures were situated every few stairs, flames breathing out from their mouths. The flames never burned, as they were all tinged by the magic of the dragon mages, though they could feel hot if somebody got too close to them.
I paused on the landing of the instructors’ quarters and hurried along the hallway to Jerith’s door. I had come to know Jerith as well as any of the instructors, and he was generally kind to me, though I was still just a student. I knocked at his door, waiting for a moment.
There was no sound from within.
I knocked again, and waited still, but there was nothing.
I turned away, heading down the hall, and made my way toward my room in the student section. The hallway in this section was narrow, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side. There were no decorative dragon sculptures to illuminate the way. Sconces set into the stone glowed with a faint, non-magical light, oil burning in them. I heard voices laughing from the end of the room, a common area in which many of the students gathered. I didn’t usually spend time there, mostly because I didn’t fit in with most of the other students. Part of that was because I had a connection to the dragons that surpassed that of a dragon rider, but the other part was something about me. Having come from lands practically near the Wilds, I was an outsider, at least according to the other students.
Not that it bothered me. It couldn’t.
I was happy enough to learn about the dragons, my connection to them, and what that might do as I continued to work with my power.
I had to go through the common area on the way to my room though.
As I headed through, I paused. Three students sat at the table near the hearth, tossing dice as they laughed. Mugs were set in front of them, and one of them, an older student with dark black hair and a sharp nose, looked over at me. Brandel was unpleasant, and had been that way ever since I had first met him. He had been at the Academy for the better part of five years, and progressed quickly through it. From what I had learned, he had proven that he would eventually gain dragon mage power, though I also had learned he did not have significant power. At least not yet. According to him, it was only a matter of time. And any connection was more than I had.
The other two students were younger—maybe 14 or 15, though it was difficult for me to know, especially as I haven’t spent much time with Jameth and Rohda. Jameth was slight of build, which made him look even younger, and had pale blue eyes. Rohda was a solid young woman, the kind who looked as if she would have managed well on a farm, and had a pockmarked face along with pale golden hair. They both looked over to me, while Brandel smirked.
I was nearly across the room when Brandel spoke up. “It took you long enough,” he said.
I paused, turning back to him. Brandel was large for his age, and only a few years younger than me. I had always suspected it made him feel a bit more entitled than some of the other students. That was partly my own fault. I rarely said anything, and I wondered if he took my silence for an unwillingness to contest what he said to me.
“What was that?” I crossed my arms over my chest, frowning at him.
“You heard me. I just said it took you long enough.” He smirked at me, getting to his feet and taking a step toward me. I didn’t move. Men—or boys, really—like Brandel needed to be handled in a certain way.
I glanced over at the others. Jameth and Rohda watched, and I could sense an almost excited energy from them. They wanted Brandel to take action. Unless I was careful, this wasn’t going to end well for anyone here, least of all me.
“What do you know about it?” I asked Brandel.
He shrugged. “I know you were sent on a test,” he said, glancing over at Jameth and then Rohda, the grin on his face widening. I had to force myself to take steadying breaths to keep from getting too annoyed with him. “And I know that it took you . . . what? Most of the day?”
I stared at him. “So?”
He shrugged. “Do you even care to know what it typically takes someone?”
“Not particularly,” I said.
“You wouldn’t,” Rohda said, sneering at me.
I looked over to her. “Have I done something to offend you?” I asked her.
Brandel grunted, and he took a step closer to me. He was only a pace away now, and I looked at him. He was about my height, and unfortunately, also about my build. If it were to come down to an actual physical confrontation, it was possible that I wouldn’t be able to handle him the way I would want.
Not that I intended to get into a physical confrontation with Brandel.
It was more than just the fact that we might be evenly matched. It was also his connection to magic. He was far better connected to the dragon magic than I was, and with that, he would have very little difficulty handling me. Using power against another student wasn’t permitted within the Dragon Academy, but that didn’t stop people like Brandel from doing so in subtle ways.
“You’ve offended all of us,” Brandel said, watching me. “You being here. You should go back to the Wilds where you belong.”
There was the common insult I got from them. If only I were from the Wilds. “I’m
not from the Wilds.”
He snorted. “Near enough.” He stepped up to me, and I could feel the stench of his hot breath on my face. “Do you know what we say about the people from the Wilds?”
“That you wish you could be more like them?”
Jameth barked out a laugh, but he cut it off as soon as Rohda glared at him.
“That we would cut them down for the way they’ve interacted with the kingdom.”
I shook my head and went to turn away when Brandel grabbed my arm. I jerked it free.
“I’d be careful, Ashan,” he sneered.
“Go ahead and be careful,” I said.
“No. You need to be careful.”
“And why is that?”
“Do you know what happens to students here who don’t succeed?”
“They go back home,” I said. I shook my head at him, having nothing more to say. What was the point, anyway? If I failed at the Academy, and failed at becoming a dragon rider, at worst, I would just return home.
I had long ago resigned myself to the fact that I would be a farmer, and it wasn’t even a life that I would resent. I enjoyed time on the farm, working with the livestock, and didn’t have any problem with that expectation for me.
These others . . . by the way they said that failures had to return home, I could tell that whatever life they had left was quite a bit worse than mine had been.
It should make me feel some measure of sympathy for them.
Brandel glowered at me, though he said nothing more.
I spun away, heading down the hall into my room. As I closed the door behind me, I couldn’t help but feel how strange it was that I was more isolated here than I ever had been while living on the plains, despite being in a city with so many people and attending an Academy where I was supposed to learn about my connection to the dragons.
I didn’t belong here.
At the same time, I needed to be here.
The Betrayed Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 2) Page 3
