Earth Born (The Earth Born Cycle Book 1)

by N. E. Conneely

  Opening herself up to the earth and to what magic she could sense, Shasta walked over to the start arch. She couldn’t find anything in the air or on the ground that would account for the dragons’ flying trouble. She carefully crossed the empty section where they did aerial maneuvers against each other, trying to feel or see anything that was causing a problem. Not only was the earth silent but she couldn’t find anything in the air or on the ground. The next obstacle was equally inert, as was the one after that. As she went, she unmade the magic holding together the obstacles and toggled off the field of light beams.

  When she reached the very end, she turned and gazed across the entire area. Still nothing. All of her senses told her the course should be completely normal, not causing the dragons any problems. It was possible one or more of the students had conspired to get out of lessons early today, but she doubted it. They’d never done anything like that before. To her it felt like magic had to be involved, but until she could identify the cause of the dragons’ flying troubles, there wasn’t much she could do to fix it.

  She checked her watch again. She still had an hour to get ready for her and Cord’s trip. She headed off to the dining hall at a trot. By most standards, dining hall was a bit of a misnomer. It was more of a complex than a single building. The first and largest section was a grassy area roughly the size of five soccer fields, dotted with large troughs of drinking water and big sturdy stone tables. The next area was a giant pavilion, bustling with brownies levitating platters of food to the dragons. Attached to the back of the pavilion was the building holding the kitchens, which was her destination.

  Shasta gave the outdoor eating area a wide berth, angling closer as she neared the pavilion. She kept an eye on the sky as she jogged since some of the dragons weren’t too careful when they darted in for their meal. When she reached where the kitchen abutted the pavilion, she took a hard left, dropping to a walk as the shade of the roof covered her.

  A four-foot-tall brownie with dark amber skin, a cheerful smile, and bright green eyes hurried over. “Your usual?”

  “Sorry, Cornelia. I’m gonna mix it up on you today. Can I get two sack lunches, some snacks, and some extra water canteens?”

  “Are you going exploring?”

  Shasta nodded. “Both Cord and I are taking a short trip. Also, I was hoping I could borrow one of the cars.” While the dragons didn’t have a use for cars, the brownies used them for getting around town and going out to the herds.

  Cornelia tipped her head to the side. “I have to see if one’s available. Since you’re leaving town, I’ll make you lunch, dinner, and snacks.” She turned and hurried toward the kitchen.

  Shasta grinned even though the brownie didn’t see it. “You’re the best!”

  Cornelia flapped her hand and kept walking.

  Shasta walked over to a long buffet table and poured herself a glass of ginger water and leaned her hip against the table. While they cooked a variety of dishes for the dragons (rumor had it sourdough bread and pecan pies were especially popular), most of the kitchen staff’s time went into butchering meat, though the brownies also cooked for themselves and occasionally Shasta and Cord as well.

  A brownie bustled out of the kitchen, three platters holding a cow’s haunches floating next to her. Two brownies, one in tan overalls and the other in jean overalls, walked back to the kitchen with six empty trays floating beside them.

  “Any word?” the one in tan whispered.

  “On Ophelia?”

  The one in tan nodded.

  The brownie in jean overalls shook his head. “She’s still missing. They’ve been asking all the dragons to look for her while they’re out flying.”

  “Do you think she’s hurt? Or did she go on a trip without telling anyone? She didn’t go with Aldebrand and President Ederin to the European dragon meet, did she?” He looked back over his shoulder, checking to see if any of the dragons were listening. The closest dragon was nearly fifty feet away and tearing into a leg of something with gusto.

  Shasta had trouble believing the entire town would forget if Ophelia had been part of Ederin, the president of the United States, and Aldebrand’s, his mate and the leader of the dragons living out here, escort to the dragon meet. That was rather far-fetched.

  The brownie in jean overalls rolled his eyes. “They wouldn’t forget her being part of the dragon-meet group. If she’d gone with them, they’d know where she was rather than being worried and looking for her.”

  “Oh, right.” Tan Overalls sounded like he regretted bringing up the topic. “I forgot about the ceremony. I was out gathering up cattle that day. Do you think they’ll find her?”

  “Don’t know.” He dusted his hands off. “But if we don’t bring a second course out soon, we’re going to have some grumpy dragons.”

  “I’ll wash the platters.” The brownie in tan overalls split off to the left with all six platters bobbing along behind him.

  The other brownie frowned when he spotted Shasta. “Has anyone been out to help you?”

  “Yup.” She set the empty cup on the table behind her. “I’m waiting for supplies and a car key. Cord and I are going out of town for the afternoon.”

  He pursed his lips, then gave a tiny shrug. “If you see Ophelia, tell her the rest of the dragons are worried and looking for her. A month is a long time for her to go off without telling anyone.”

  “I’d love to, but I don’t know who Ophelia is.” Shasta hoped the dragon wasn’t the skeleton she’d found in the woods.

  “Ever seen an orange sunset?”

  Shasta nodded.

  “She looks just like that. Only dragon I’ve ever seen with that coloring, and more than thirty feet long.” He glanced into the kitchen, then back at her. “Can’t mistake her for anyone else.”

  She slowly exhaled. Ophelia was too big to be the skeleton. “I’ll gladly pass the message along if I see her.”

  “Good.” With that, the brownie vanished into the kitchen.

  Shasta refilled her cup. The brownie had looked rather uncomfortable. Had the dragons not wanted her to know, or had they simply not thought to tell her or Cord? If Cord had known, he would’ve told her.

  Thoughts of Cord brought other worries to mind. They were about to spend a few hours together, giving Cord plenty of time to approach topics she’d rather were left alone. She tried to tell herself it wouldn’t be that bad. She could always tell him about the trouble on the obstacle course. Though that hardly equated to being able to solve the mystery of why her dragons had suddenly forgotten how to fly. With a frustrated huff, Shasta forced her attention away from her problems. She’d have plenty of time to worry about them, but for now there was a different task awaiting her.

  A few minutes later, Cornelia shuffled back out of the kitchen. She pressed a key into Shasta’s hand. “Everything you need has been loaded into car six. It’s freshly fueled and parked around back. You can pick it up now or a bit later. I was told you should have the car back by tomorrow night.”

  “Thank you.” Shasta looked at the key, which had a number six tag hanging from the key ring. “We’ll be back later today, hopefully before sundown.”

  “Bring it back in one piece. And the two of you. It’s too soon to be looking for new trainers,” Cornelia said tartly before she returned to the kitchen.

  Shasta smiled to herself. That was Cornelia’s way of warning her to be careful. She’d overheard the brownie tell a dragon the same thing last week. She turned and headed around the building to where a line of vehicles was parked. A white SUV with knobby tires had a big number six on the driver’s side door. It also had more than a foot of ground clearance, which would be nice since there weren’t any roads where they were going.

  She slid the key into the driver-side door out of habit, though the car wasn’t locked. Even if there’d been people around, no one was dumb enough to steal a car from the Dragon Lands. The dragons took care of their own. The brownies and anything they needed, like cars, were
under the dragons’ protection. Shasta pulled the key out the lock, took a few steps to her right, and opened the back door. Sure enough, there was a cooler sitting on the floorboard. She pulled off the lid and found not only drinks but more than enough food for an afternoon away from town. Satisfied with the provisions, she closed the door, got in the driver’s seat, cranked the car, and checked the fuel gauge. As Cornelia had said, it was full.

  It wasn’t that far back to her and Cord’s house, but it was slow driving. She kept an eye out for dragons as well as stopping several times to let some of the young dragons flutter past. When she parked, it was five minutes to noon. She took the opportunity to use the bathroom since those tended to be rare out in the wilderness, then walked back into the main room of the house to see Cord lounging on the sofa.

  He cracked an eye open. “Do you have food or should we get food?”

  The distinctly normal question had her suppressing a sigh of relief. At least he wasn’t going to bring up their last conversation right away. “We’ve got plenty of food in the car. You can eat while I drive. I’m not overly hungry at the moment.” Watching dragon after dragon nearly plummet to the ground had not done good things to her appetite.

  “Is there anything I need to bring?” He sat up and stretched.

  “Maybe a light jacket.” Shasta shrugged. “It could get a little cold in the evening.”

  He pointed to the back of the couch where a small lump of green cloth sat next to a larger lump of deep blue cloth. “I grabbed one for each of us.”

  “Oh.”

  Cord got to his feet, picked up the two jackets, and started to the door. “Are you coming?”

  Shasta trailed after him and headed to the driver-side door while Cord went for the passenger side. She’d thought there would be more questions and more explanations before he was willing to leave town. Instead, in less than five minutes, they were bouncing their way out of town. Cord was busy devouring a mushroom sandwich while Shasta carefully navigated them around boulders and past the edges of town.

  Adding to her surprise was Cord’s silence. He’d hardly said a word since they got into the car. Most of her wanted to be grateful for the reprieve, but the rest of her was afraid. Afraid that one topic would come up again and again and again. That had been the pattern for a few months now, and she didn’t see it changing until one of them changed how the conversation went. And not so deep down, she was afraid that if they didn’t have an honest talk, she’d lose Cord as a partner as soon as this assignment was over. She sighed, wishing for easy answers and a clear path to success.

  “You sighed a lot,” Cord commented.

  She didn’t take her eyes off the ground in front of them to check his expression. “Have a lot on my mind.”

  “I’m here if you want to talk.” He slid that into the conversation so casually.

  “It’s the dragons.” He would know it wasn’t just the dragons, but at least that was a safe topic. “Something strange was going on at the obstacle course.”

  “Really?” His voice perked up with interest. “Most them are great flyers.”

  “Today they were the most cursed flyers you’ve ever seen.” Shasta went on to explain what happened that morning and the distinct lack of magical evidence.

  “I’ll look it over in the morning.” Cord was silent for a long time. “Do you think it could’ve been done with magic?”

  She shrugged. “Of course it could be, but I think I would’ve found some evidence and I didn’t.”

  “True,” Cord said thoughtfully. “Of course, the dragons could’ve eaten a bad batch of mushrooms yesterday.”

  She snorted. “That’d be a nice explanation. But until I have some evidence to support it, I can’t get too excited.”

  “Well, I don’t think there’s much I can do until I get a look at it.” He tapped his fingers on the armrest. “So what is it we’re going to look at, and how far from town are we going?”

  “I want your thoughts about something I found, and I don’t want to taint your impressions with my opinions.” She darted her eyes over in time to see him nodding in agreement. “And I’m not sure exactly how long the drive is going to be. A dragon flew me out there, and it only took her fifteen minutes.”

  He thought for a moment. “We probably have another thirty minutes of driving.”

  “We’ll see.” Shasta could practically hear him thinking, debating what was a safe topic. She pursed her lips and kept her eyes ahead of them, steering the SUV around an outcropping of rock and bumping over uneven ground. It almost felt like old times, before everything got so complicated.

  “I won’t bring it up again.” His voice rumbled through the car.

  Shasta stomped on the brakes, tossing them forward into their seat belts and then back. “What?”

  Chapter Four

  He tugged at the seat belt to loosen it. “I won’t ask you about that night. But I’ll hold to our agreement: you talk to me about that night, and I’ll tell you why I quit the police force.”

  She blinked, feeling rather stupid. The words didn’t quite make sense. “Why? You’ve asked so many times. Why stop now?”

  He looked away from her, gazing out the windshield and across the unending stretch of Wyoming. “If you ever want to talk about it, I’ll answer that question too.”

  Shasta slid the gearshift into park, took her foot off the brake, and pivoted to look directly at Cord. His expression was inscrutable, but there was something in the crook of his lips and the depth of his eyes that scared her to her very bones. She could almost see what he was hiding, but she knew if she looked closely enough and actually discovered the secrets, it would change things between them. She was too afraid, too much of a coward, to question that look and pry into his secrets. “Are we still partners?”

  “Of course.” His lips turned up in the tiniest of smiles. “Who else would put up with a half witch, half elf?”

  She forced a smile she didn’t really feel. “Insanity must run your family.”

  “You’ve met my parents.” He was grinning, but his eyes were sad.

  She put the car in gear, hit the gas, and started bumping toward the bones and the mystery they held. “I have. You’re all insane.” She winked at him.

  “You’re one to talk.” With every quip, his voice relaxed a little more.

  She rolled her eyes and baited him. “My family is perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

  “Normal. Riightttt.” He drew the word out until he ran out of air.

  Shasta hid her amusement under the solemnest expression she could summon. “We are.”

  “This from the person who says the earth created her and whose older brother has the same story.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shake his head. “Plus the two of you were raised by an elf and a witch. Nothing about that screams normal.”

  “That one is true, and you know it.” With those words, the friendly banter died. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. She should’ve let it go. He’d only been joking. Out the window, she saw the lone tree she’d lounged under yesterday. “We’re getting close.”

  Moments passed in silence. Finally Cord sighed. “What was it like being created by the earth?”

  Shasta risked a quick glance at him. It was wasted effort. The only thing she could see on his face was curiosity. “Not much different than being born, I’d expect.” She shrugged.

  “I don’t remember being born.”

  “Oh.” As they crept down the hill, Shasta tried to find the words. “I don’t remember being created, though I do remember being in the earth. Later, I woke up in the woods, listening to the earth fill me with knowledge. I knew the earth made me. I knew who I was, what I needed to do, and who my parents would be.”

  “Thank you.” Cord reached over and squeezed her hand. “You never told me that before.”

  “You never asked.” She kept her eyes ahead of them, steering around a huge rut. He’d certainly asked plenty of other questions a
fter rescuing her, but never that one. After all these years, she’d figured it wasn’t important to him.

  “I thought if you wished to talk about it you would.” He paused. “Are we headed for that patch of trees?”

  “Yes.” The ground leveled out, and Shasta turned the car to the left, driving around the stand of trees. It would be much easier to walk in from the other side.

  Cord rolled down the window, looking at the ground and trees. “You said a dragon brought you out here?”

  Shasta slowed the car, watching the tree line so she could park close to the shelter. “The dragon dropped me off up the hill behind us. I walked down here.”

  “Stop,” Cord snapped.

  She hit the brakes without questioning him.

  He got out of the car and began pacing back and forth, eyes locked on the ground. From within the car, she couldn’t see what was so interesting, so she put the car in park, turned it off, pocketed the key, and got out. Even though there was no one in sight, she locked the doors. Since whatever it was that had Cord’s interest was in front of the car, Shasta circled around the back, halting a couple of feet behind him.

  Cord knelt down and held his hand over a series of ripples in the grass and dirt. Shasta leaned forward, trying to make out what he could see that she couldn’t. She opened herself up to the earth but simply got an impression of weight. Considering the number of dragons that were around, that didn’t really mean anything.

  “A car came through here not that long ago.” He stood up and followed the impressions away from the trees.

  Shasta trailed after him. “How long ago?”

  He shrugged. “It’s hard to say. I’ve seen some tracks last through rains, and they were only made last week, but I’ve also seen tracks I couldn’t make out past a day. These are faint, like they’ve been worn down. My best guess is more than a week.”

  That was a relief. And made it less likely anyone had been here since yesterday. “How far can we follow them?”