Already, my lesser, human eyes could see the horse galloping ahead. Would Hubric stop for them?
Kyrowat’s already getting excited. It’s been a while since he had a nice horse dinner.
Seriously, he was pushing that myth too far. Soon, I was going to believe that they really ate horses and that was just plain ridiculous.
Chapter Four
A cloud of dust followed the horses. If we’d been chasing them on the ground it might have obscured them from our view. As it was, it only helped us see them more clearly.
Kyrowat started his descent first, talons out and feet reaching forward. The horses sped, flecks of sweat flying from them as they ran.
They’re running them to death. Why?
The horse in the lead stumbled as Kyrowat descended before him. He tumbled into an awkward roll over the dirt and stone. Raolcan and I swooped low over the road, parallel to the horses, while Enkenay landed behind them, rearing up to signal there would be no retreat.
Raolcan’s landing was more of a skid than a proper landing, coating Savette and me with dust. I spat, trying to clear my eyes as the wafting smell of sulfur and a burst of heat told me he’d flamed someone.
When the dust cleared, a horse was screaming, and another was running, riderless, into the surrounding grassland. The horse that fell writhed on the ground, his rider pinned under him and a large sack thrown clear. Another sack lay beside a long black soot mark and two bodies lay on the ground as if they had been dropped there.
I gasped at the sudden carnage.
It’s a warning to all not to mess with dragons.
We didn’t even know who they were.
Hubric suspects he does.
I dismounted, helping Savette off.
“Stay back,” Rakturan called as he moved to the lame horse. He stood so that his back was to us, hiding the injured horse’s head from view. A moment later the thrashing stopped. I didn’t look closely. I didn’t want to know what had been done.
Steady, spider.
Instead, I limped to where the first sack had been thrown clear. I heard coughing from within. It lay in the dust, worn leather but clearly man-shaped. I reached with trembling hands to my belt and produced a small knife. There was no way that these shaking hands could untie those knots. They were stretched and tight as if someone had been straining against them.
Carefully, I cut the leather thong holding the back closed and then hobbled backward, flicking my crutch into a quarterstaff just in case.
“This one is dead,” Rakturan called from behind me. He must have meant the man pinned under the horse. I didn’t want to know if he was dead before Rakturan got there.
“They’re Dusk Covenant,” Hubric called. He was near the fallen men on the ground, examining their bodies. “What were they hurrying off to, I wonder?”
From the bag I’d opened, an arm emerged and with more coughing, a man followed it. He spat and black fluid hit the ground. Horror filled me. What had we done in scaring his captors? Had we hurt him somehow and damaged him inside?
He was young but grizzled like he lived outdoors in tough circumstances. He coughed and spat again. Were those Dragon Rider leathers? His gaze met mine, so familiar and yet so different. He reminded me of Leng.
“You need some scarves girl. It’s impossible to tell what Color you are without them.”
“I’m Sworn,” I said, eyes wide as he coughed and spat again. “I’m not allowed to wear the Colors.” His own scarves were purple but tattered and dirty. “What did they do to you?”
“Killed my dragon. Cut poor Darshh’s head right off in front of me while his big trusting eyes looked at me. Hollowed me to the core. They killed Uhynmal and Nonoloes with him – Whites, not that I hold that against them. They had a group of Magikas to hold our dragons in place. They’re collecting us – Purple Dragon Riders, I mean.”
“What can I do for you?” I felt like crying watching him cough up black fluid while he spoke of his dead friends.
“A little water would be nice. Is that Hubric Duneshifter over there?”
“Yes,” I said as Savette brought him a flask.
“I’m saved by a legend,” he laughed, but his laughter quickly turned to coughing. “Duneshifter!”
Hubric joined us, helping a limping young man with him. This one wasn’t a Dragon Rider. He wore armor, but his face was bashed and bloody.
“They shouldn’t have tried to outrun us,” Hubric said.
“They’re in a hurry,” the Purple said. “Are you okay Findar?”
“I’ll live,” the soldier said thickly. He was leaning hard on Hubric.
“Why the hurry, Talsan Woodcarver?” Hubric asked.
The Purple – Talsan – smiled and then burst into a fit of coughing.
“We don’t know,” Findar said. One of his eyelids drooped over a puffy eye. “They took Casaban on the coast and before they’d finished sacking the city they stuffed Talsan and me into bags and rode away.”
“Casaban?” Savette’s tone was horrified. “Who sacked Casaban?”
“Baojang.” Findar’s voice was grim. “It was a fleet of ships from Baojang, but they weren’t alone. Someone in the city opened the gates to them and our own Magikas turned on us. Casaban should have been impregnable. I watched our own Magikas throw balls of fire at the Blacks who swarmed to defend us against the ships. I watched them call something dark and fiery from the ground. It ripped the keep apart with its bare hands.” His eyes were faraway, pain etching his face. “I fought with the others, retreating as we needed to. We’d been pushed back as far as the dragon cotes when the Magikas came. I was hit hard and lost consciousness and woke up a captive with Talsan.”
“The fools thought he was a Purple Dragon Rider, too,” Talsan said between coughs. “They’re rounding up every Purple they can find and bringing them to the Feet of the River.”
Chapter Five
“Why would they be hunting Purples?” I asked as we sipped caf together. I’d lit a fire and boiled the water with Savette while Hubric and Rakturan dragged the dead to the side and constructed pyres. With dragons on hand, lighting a hot enough fire was never a problem, although the dragons were gone right now, dealing with their own needs. Raolcan wouldn’t get more specific than that.
We’re eating. That’s all you need to know.
“I don’t know,” Talsan said. “But I know that’s why they took me and why they took Findar. They thought he was a Purple because he was fighting in the cotes and he passed out in front of a purple dragon’s cote. They took another Purple, too, but the groups holding us split up and the other group had him.”
“Was he sick, too?” I asked gently, pouring a little more caf in his mug. He smiled gently at me before suppressing a cough.
“Dying, you mean? Don’t look shocked. I know what’s happening here. I had a tight bond with Darshh. It’s fitting that I won’t outlive him by very long. No, he wasn’t dying. His dragon had escaped somehow. I don’t know how they were separated. I asked, but I was cuffed for speaking and they dragged him away. The next time I saw him he was being stuffed into a bag just like me. Poor kid. Wasn’t very old to be a full Dragon Rider. Spine of steel, though. Proper Purple.”
Hubric’s expression was grave. He reached for Talsan’s hand gripping it in one fist and saluting with the other – hand to heart. “As are you, son. Thank you for your faithfulness.”
Talsan gripped Hubric’s hand and then waved him away. “I’m more dragon than man these days. Doesn’t feel right to be so alone in my head. What do we do now?”
“We fly to Backwater Manor. There are people there who will help both of you heal.”
“Not to the Feet of the River?” Talsan looked worried. “That other Purple needs our help.”
Hubric took a final sip of caf and handed me his mug. “My messages are too important. I can’t stop for a rescue mission. Maybe the people of Backwater can help.”
“I don’t think I know that place,” Findar sai
d. His words were still slurred and I was starting to wonder if some of his teeth were broken. He wasn’t much older than I was.
“It’s not far,” Hubric said. “They’ll have soft beds and medicine for both of you.”
Talsan looked down the road with a worried expression. Was he thinking of walking on his own to get to these Feet of the River?
“Savette, you ride with Rak,” Hubric said. “Amel can take Talsan and I’ll take Findar. It’s a short hop from here to Backwater Manor.”
His tone said it was settled. I dumped the kettle over the fire, and gathered up the mugs, wrapping them in the basket that kept them safe. The kettle would be cool enough to wrap in wool and leather in a minute and then we could leave.
“Thank you for saving us,” Findar said to Hubric.
“Think nothing of it.” Hubric’s tone was rough but I could tell he was touched by the gratitude.
“Did you catch the name of the other Purple they captured?” I asked Talsan. It wasn’t like I’d know who it was. I didn’t know any other Purples except Leng and Hubric, but I felt like he should be remembered.
“I did not,” Talsan said. He ran a hand through dusty hair. He looked so tired that I just wanted to let him sleep for a while. If Hubric was right, then there would be a place for him to rest when we arrived at Backwater Manor. He coughed, spitting black phlegm up from his disintegrating lungs. How long did he have left?
When his fit subsided he said, “He mentioned his dragon by name, though. Ahlskibi.”
I felt like someone had hit me in the belly.
Chapter Six
“I told you he was in danger!” Why did my chest feel so tight? “They captured him just like they said they did, Hubric!”
Hubric was in front of me so quickly, taking the hot kettle and basket from my hands that I hardly blinked before they were gone. He set them on the ground and grabbed me by the upper arms, looking into my eyes with a gaze full of compassion and sincerity.
“Think for a moment, Amel. Stop and think. What does this tell you?”
“That he really was captured by the Dusk Covenant!”
“When did they take you?” he asked Talsan.
“Three days ago. They fled with us on horseback that night.”
“Were there Dragon Riders with them?”
He shook his head. “Magikas. Many Magikas, but no Dragon Riders.”
Hubric’s eyes were on mine again, tenderness filling them. “There is no way that they knew he’d been captured when they wrote you that demand letter. It was a ruse. A fake. If you had returned to the city, if - skies forbid - you had brought them what they wanted, it would have done nothing to keep him safe. They lied to you.”
“But they have him now.”
“They don’t have Ahlskibi.”
“Hubric.” My voice sounded so small. “Now that we know where he is. Now that we know. We can’t fly in the other direction.”
“We can and must, my friend. Our oaths to the Dominar demand it.”
A sob caught in my throat.
“Come. We’ll find help at Backwater Manor. There may even be those who can go after your friend.”
I nodded, my vision swimming with tears.
“If I could do both I would. Last time was different. Last time I was saving you from making a mistake. This time, I feel as torn as you do. I feel as much pull as you do to fly after him, but what can we do, Amel? We must fulfill our vows. We are duty bound.”
I bit my lip. The tears were running fast down my face. Without Hubric’s hands around my arms, I’d be sagging against my crutch. I felt like someone had thrown my heart on the ground and stomped all over it. I just didn’t have the heart to fly in the other direction.
“Look at me,” Hubric said. I looked at him. His smile was gentle and brave. “I’m known everywhere for being a trickster and a bit of a magician when it comes to getting what I want. There will be a way to save Leng. I will find it without risking our messages. Do you understand?”
I nodded.
“Do you trust me?”
Did I? I was still mad about before.
He was looking out for you then. He looks out for you now. As do I. We will find a way to honor our obligations and rescue Leng, too. Likely, Ahskibi is already working to free him.
But where was Ahlskibi when he was captured? It didn’t make sense that they could be separated.
We don’t know. All we know is that we are in this together. Give Hubric the gift of your trust. He has been nothing but kind to you.
“I trust you,” I said, hoping Hubric understood how hard this was for me.
“Then let’s fly.”
Chapter Seven
“Was Leng hurt when you saw him?” I asked Talsan. We’d flown in silence except for his coughing, but the question wouldn’t go away. It seared through my mind like a hot poker.
“Yes. I’m not sure how badly.” Talsan said between coughs. “He was hunched over. Favoring his right side.”
The good thing about Purple Dragon Riders was that they told the truth.
You’re eating a hole inside yourself with worry and anger. You’re not helping anyone with that.
But what other alternative was there? I couldn’t shut off anger like you turned a spigot. I couldn’t stop worrying any more than you could stop the rain.
Focus on what you can do.
What could I do sitting on the back of a dragon? Maybe, I could help Talsan.
“What are you thinking about, Talsan?”
He coughed, laughed and then coughed again, his breath coming in wheezy spasms. “I was wondering how soon my death approaches, Sworn.”
How did you comfort someone who was dying and couldn’t be saved?
“I just keep feeling like there is something more I need to do before I go. Maybe it’s saving this Purple rider. Leng, did you say his name was?”
“Yes.”
“And you are friends?”
I nodded.
He slumped to one side coughing.
“Do you need help, Talsan?”
When his coughing subsided, he spoke again. “No. I’ll be fine. No one can help me now, though I hope there will be a hand to help lead me over the chasm to the next world.”
I shivered.
“Don’t fear death, Sworn. It comes for us all.”
“You’re not afraid?”
“I didn’t say that.” He coughed.
Was that smoke I smelled? Wood smoke? The smell was getting more powerful by the moment. I scanned the ground, but it was hard to see anything beneath the blanket of thick trees. They stood high and broad so that their canopy blocked a clear view of the ground beneath it. Up ahead was a river winding through the trees.
There! There’s a dark patch along the river.
So there was. Hubric angled Kyrowat toward the dark patch and we all followed, but there was fear in my bones as we descended. Hubric had spoken of Backwater Manor – a place of allies and warm dinners. Was that where the smoke was rising?
What Hubric didn’t say because others were listening is that it is also an outpost of the Lightbringers. I just caught that in Kyrowat’s thoughts. A safe-house of theirs like the farm where you met the Dominar and received his message. It’s manned all year round.
Someone had lost their home down there.
Worse. It’s not just smoke I smell. There are dead people below.
As we descended lower, we finally broke the canopy of the high trees, flying beneath their branches along the winding river. The dark patch drew closer. Savette was signaling anxiously from Enkenay’s back. Something down there disturbed her. Her signals weren’t clear. Was she simply alerting us?
Perhaps it was Dusk Covenant on their way to the Feet of the River.
Was that near here?
Maybe you should have paid more attention to your lessons. If someone launched a boat from here, the river would take them as far as the Feet of the River by morning.
That was fast. Ne
arly as fast as a dragon could fly.
It’s a mighty river – the Great Drake River.
It figured that it would be named for a male dragon. I’d never seen anything faster than Raolcan – except the Ifrit.
Now that we were closer, I saw the charred foundations of several small buildings and one long building up the hill from the water. The smaller ones looked to be the size of cabins – perhaps a dozen of them. The larger one was four times the size. Perhaps a storehouse or Great Hall of sorts. The smell of smoke was thick, but there was very little smoke left. Tiny tufts of white swirled up from the wreckage.
The fire is out now. All that remains is whatever didn’t burn.
A boathouse stood untouched with a pair of long riverboats tied to the dock. Whatever lit this place ablaze must have burned fast and quick. It hadn’t destroyed every building.
My hand went to my mouth involuntarily when I saw the first heap of burnt clothing on the ground between the buildings. My other hand joined it when I saw the second. There were at least a dozen people strewn in the ashes and three dead horses.
Skies send mercy. Rain of mercy. Sun send warmth to bring us back from the edge of death.
Behind me, Talsan cursed between his coughs. There would be no help for him or Findar here.
Chapter Eight
“We’ll gather the dead and bury them properly,” Hubric said as we landed.
“No, we can’t stay,” Savette said. Her head whipped wildly from one side to the other like she was looking for something.
“They’re my friends,” Hubric said, wearily. “Lightbringers. That’s Tessa Goodhearth there on the ground.” He pointed to one of the figures. “Why would we not stay to properly care for her body?”
“There’s something in the air ... something not right...” her voice faded out.
Hubric rubbed his forehead, looking, for the first time since I met him, his full age. “Of course, there is. It’s the smell of my friend’s burning flesh.”
Dragon School Page 2
