Earth Born (The Earth Born Cycle Book 1)

by N. E. Conneely

  “Try resting it against the collar.” He tilted his head toward Matilda.

  Shasta lifted an eyebrow, hoping he would explain, but he jerked his head in Matilda’s direction again, urging her to get on with it. Shasta stepped close enough to the dragon to reach out and set the edge of her sword across the collar. There was a faint thunk as metal touched metal. For a long moment the sword simply sat there. She was ready to tell Cord whatever he thought would happen wasn’t working when the sword hilt warmed. She leaned closer and squinted. The edge of her sword was disappearing into the metal.

  She jerked back, snatching her sword away from the collar before it could get stuck there. Instead of the metal she expected to see stuck on her sword, the blade was as pure as it had been before. The hilt stayed warm for another second before it began to cool against her hand. “What was that?”

  Cord grinned. “A way to free Matilda.”

  “Yours does it too?”

  “Yes, and if we each take a side, we can cut this thing off her.” Cord’s gaze drifted away from Shasta and Matilda, roving around the cave. “I’m not sure how much longer we’ll be alone.”

  Shasta had at least a dozen questions about her sword, how it could melt the metal and why it never did that when she was fencing, but she swallowed them, agreed with Cord, and then hurried around to the other side of Matilda. Without hesitating, she laid the edge of her sword across the thick band of metal. Again, for several seconds nothing happened, but then the metal started parting, slowly peeling away from her sword. It looked less like metal being melted and more like it was retreating from some force it didn’t know how to fight. Either way, when the bottom half of the collar fell to the floor, she was light-headed with relief. Matilda was free.

  The dragon shook herself, fluffing her wings out as she did so. The top half of the collar clattered to the floor. “Thank you.”

  Shasta joined Cord by Matilda’s nose. “Well, I wasn’t gonna lose my best student.”

  The three of them shared a smile.

  “Now.” Shasta pointed her torch in the general direction of the exit. “It’s time for us to get out of here.”

  “Agreed,” Matilda and Cord said at once.

  With surprisingly little discussion, Shasta took the lead with Cord next and Matilda in the rear. Since they weren’t trying for stealth, and both herself and Cord had already traversed this area, the trip out of the cave went far more quickly than her trip into it. And not having a distracting magical phone call with her mother helped the trip move along more briskly.

  As Shasta had suspected when she entered the cave, the entire entrance was more than large enough for a dragon. Matilda never even came close to scraping wings or horns the entire way out. Cord had been in relatively good spirits until they passed the dead snake creature and spear pit. From there to the exit his jaw was clenched, and he kept darting little glances in Shasta’s direction. She ignored his attitude, grateful that she was getting to leave this place. Plus, thanks to the electric lanterns, they didn’t have to stumble around in the dark.

  Shasta wasn’t sure how long she’d been in the cave. But she was grateful that the daylight made its way in little by little, giving her eyes plenty of time to adjust before they were standing outside. Even so, as soon as she stepped outside, she found herself blinking away the spots in her vision. Apparently there was a difference between the light in the mouth of the cave and being truly outside. Luckily, the sun was low in the sky, casting long shadows and painting the horizon in shades of blue.

  To her surprise, Cord hadn’t come alone. There were three dragons and two brownies waiting outside. Silas, the most nondescript brown dragon Shasta had ever met, lifted his wings in greeting. Beside him were two larger dragons, a blush-pink dragon who was about fifty feet long and Branstan, who was wearing a harness. Between the two large dragons were the brownies. Cornelia waved cheerfully. The brownie next to her gave Shasta’s group a brisk nod, though Shasta didn’t recognize him.

  There was a flurry of draconic hisses and trills as the pink dragon hurried forward to greet Matilda. Shasta and Cord stayed to the side as the dragons had their reunion. After a couple of whistling tones from Matilda, the pink dragon backed away. Silas and Branstan touched noses with Matilda.

  Silas looked her over, noting the stiff way she held herself and the missing scales on her paws and shoulder. “Can you fly?” he asked, switching to English.

  Matilda tilted her head as she considered. “Not far and not well.”

  Silas bobbed his head. “We planned for as much.”

  Cornelia and the other brownie approached Matilda, a large leather harness hovering behind them. Cornelia’s partner stopped and motioned to the harness. “If you would allow it, we will help you into this. It will aid your flight.”

  Matilda nodded.

  Shasta leaned over to Cord. “How is it that can help her fly?”

  “Magic.” Silas hissed from above. “As brownies can levitate objects, they have stitched some of that power into the leather. While it will not change Matilda’s mass, it will alter the earth’s pull on her. It also has loops on the top where straps can be attached so Branstan can assist her.”

  Shasta watched the brownies secure straps and buckles, including two lines leading away from her shoulders, to Branstan. She could already picture Matilda in the air and Branstan above, taking some of her weight and helping guide her home.

  “This is not the first time a dragon has needed such aid.” Silas sighed. “I am to be the brownies’ ride home. Portia will carry the two of you.”

  Portia, the blush-pink dragon, swung her head toward them. “Thank you for rescuing my daughter.”

  Shasta wasn’t sure what to say, so she bowed to buy herself time. “Matilda put her trust in me as her teacher. That was a covenant I had to uphold.”

  Portia gazed at her with one golden eye. “Not all teachers would have felt that way.”

  “Shasta’s parents raised her well.” Cord pulled the dragon’s attention to him.

  “She is a credit to her family. As are you, elf.” With that, Portia turned her attention to her daughter.

  The brownies had maneuvered the harness over Matilda’s back and were busy buckling straps and adjusting the fit around her wings and chest. Branstan had taken up a position well behind Matilda, and the long lines he would use to support Matilda during the flight had already been attached to the underside of his harness. Shasta hoped the takeoff and flight went smoothly, because she had already used all her tricks to keep dragons aloft that morning, which felt more like a hundred years ago than hours prior.

  Shasta leaned close to Cord and whispered, “How did you get Branstan to agree to help us?”

  “Oh.” Cord grinned. “He still doesn’t like us, but he does like playing the hero, and this fit the bill fairly perfectly.”

  “I never thought I’d say this, but it’s nice when some things don’t change.” Shasta returned his grin.

  Cord laughed, drawing stares from Silas and Portia. “You have to tell your mom that when we’re done with this mess. She’s going to laugh until she cries, and when she’s finished, she’ll tell you welcome to adulthood.”

  “She called while I was in the cave.”

  Cord buried his face in his hands, shoulders shaking. “What did you do?”

  “Well, I was out of magic, so there wasn’t much I could do. She kept talking about how lonely she was with an empty nest.” Shasta rolled her eyes. “She has the keenest nose for trouble. I never could get away with anything as a kid, and I don’t think that’s gonna change for a while.”

  Cord straightened up, assuming the mantle of a much older, wiser person. “Take it from someone who knows, to your parents you will always be a child.”

  “That’s the truth,” Silas muttered.

  A sharp whistle cut across the field. Silas jerked his head up. In the distance, plumes of smoke were rising from Branstan’s nostrils.

  “Though I have
the most wonderful father. I’m blessed to always have his input.” Silas’s head was high, his wings held out stiffly.

  After exhaling a cloud of smoke, Branstan nodded sharply.

  Silas’s wings drooped, and he lowered his head as if trying to avoid his father’s notice.

  The two brownies left Matilda’s side, each carrying one of the lines clipped to her harness. It took hardly any time at all to firmly attach the lines to Branstan and return.

  “We’re ready to go,” Cornelia said.

  Portia knelt down. The brownies hurried to mount Silas while Shasta followed Cord to Portia’s side. Cord helped her into the oversized saddle before mounting behind her. His arms came around her to grab the loop, pulling her firmly against his chest. For the first time since Byron had been falling out of the sky, Shasta felt truly safe. The monster in the cave might have been able to work spells on Shasta’s group, but Portia and Branstan were older, stronger, and undoubtedly more resistant to magic. Plus the two brownies and Cord were hardly forces that could be ignored.

  Branstan sounded a two-tone whistle. It was echoed by Matilda, then by Silas and Portia. When the sounds faded away, Branstan shifted his weight onto his haunches, thrust himself off the ground, and snapped his wings open. The muscles along his back bulged and rippled as he fought to position himself. After a short struggle, he maneuvered in line with Matilda’s tail and got just enough above her that there was a loop of slack in the rope.

  Shasta could see Matilda’s sides heaving as she sucked in deep breaths. She leaped forward, pushed off the earth, and flared her wings. For a moment the rope went taut, then sagged as she struggled to gain altitude. There was a fraction of a second where it looked like they would both fall to the ground. Then, with powerful wingbeats, Branstan pulled both of them aloft. They hung for a count of five before Matilda angled herself toward town. She flapped her wings, slowly pushing forward. Above her, Branstan kept pace, gradually moving slightly ahead of Matilda and taking more of her weight.

  “Thank the earth.” Shasta hissed.

  “Yes.” Cord’s breath tickled her ear.

  Before either of them could say anything else, Portia emanated a half hiss, half hum. The brownies on Silas hunkered down. After two long strides, he bounded into the air. Only moments after Silas took off, he was gently winging along beside Matilda.

  Cord’s arms tightened around her only seconds before Portia flung herself into the air. Even with Cord supporting her, Shasta rocked back. The first few seconds of the flight were rough enough for Shasta’s teeth to clack together. Then Portia leveled out next to her daughter.

  “I should mention, Silas and I never did test out the obstacle course.”

  Shasta looked back at Cord. “Don’t worry about it. With a sorcerer attacking dragons, we know who was at fault.”

  “True.”

  The conversation died, but Shasta found herself glancing from dragon to dragon, trying to keep her eyes on all of them at once, making sure they were okay. Then she found herself leaning into Cord, and before she knew it fatigue overpowered her nerves and she drifted off. Even a relatively smooth flight wasn’t truly smooth, and she bounced to and fro, groggily blinking before drifting back to sleep.

  “Wake up.”

  Shasta groaned and snuggled into her pillow.

  “Wake up.” Cord’s voice was soft but persistent. “We’re nearly at town.”

  Shasta forced her eyes to open, blinking against the orange light of the evening sun. She yawned and started to stretch, but her arms wouldn’t move.

  “Easy. We’re still on the dragons.”

  Looking down, Shasta saw Cord’s arms around her, below them the rose-tinted dragon, and far below that was grass spotted with brush. As much as she wanted to lean into him, she forced herself to sit up. “How far to town?”

  He pointed to the left.

  In the distance she saw the gathering place. It was awash with dragons of every size and every color. The only clear area was in the very center of the field. They weren’t just returning home, they were coming back with the entire town watching.

  Portia banked to the right. Shasta twisted to watch the other dragon. Silas had mirrored Portia’s move on the other side, while Branstan and Matilda aimed for the clear area in the center of the field. Matilda landed heavily, almost falling a short distance to the ground. Branstan slowly lowered himself to the ground behind her as two brownies rushed out of the crowd to unhook the lines between them.

  In only seconds Portia landed beside Matilda. Cord dismounted, then helped Shasta off. Her legs wobbled but held. Before long, she’d need to lie down and rest.

  She’d hardly made it a few steps from Portia’s side when the ground under her trembled.

  “Sunshine, you returned!” Romeo grinned at her.

  Natalia sidled up beside him. “Welcome back, Shasta.”

  Behind her, Shasta could see the rest of her class.

  She started to walk over, but before she had taken a full step, Portia’s voice cut through the air. “Now that we’re safe, what precisely happened to my daughter?”

  Shasta suppressed a sigh. There had been some benefits to the cave.

  Chapter Nine

  Matilda whipped her head around. “It wasn’t her fault.”

  Ignoring her daughter, Portia lowered her head until one eye focused directly on Shasta. “How was she taken under your watch?”

  As her smile faded, she squared her shoulders and stood tall. Hopefully the dragon would notice her body language rather than her rapid heartbeats. “Magic.”

  “We were told you have magic. Yet you couldn’t defend our young?” There was a hissing undertone to Portia’s voice, as if she was struggling to form the words in English rather than the dragon tongue.

  Sometimes you had to fight fire with fire, though she hoped it didn’t come to that in a literal fashion. “You were told I have some magic, which is true.” For a moment Portia had a triumphant gleam in her eyes, but Shasta kept talking. “I’m not a witch. I don’t have that much or that type of magic. What I can do is rather limited, especially in comparison to my mother’s abilities. If you wanted a witch, your representative should’ve said as much to Mom. She would’ve found someone compatible.”

  Portia pulled her head back, and both sets of eyelids blinked.

  “Did you bother to use what magic you have?” a voice bellowed from the crowd.

  Shasta suppressed an eye roll and a sarcastic remark. “I used every bit of my abilities. Several members of the group experienced in-flight attacks. I begged the air itself to keep them aloft. If I could have prevented Matilda’s capture, I would’ve.”

  A myriad of dragons began shouting questions, each one doing their best to drown out the next. Shasta stood there, wishing she knew what to do. She couldn’t answer all their questions, mostly because there wasn’t an answer. While she could’ve made different choices or tried other things, she’d done her very best in the moment, and nothing was going to turn back time and give her a second chance. And, regardless of what some of the dragons seemed to think, Shasta suspected it wouldn’t have mattered exactly what she did. Mr. Evil from the cave was going to find a way to take one of the dragons.

  Cord settled a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed. While dragons bellowed at one another and at her, Shasta held her ground with Cord at her side, confident that they would get through this. Though, she hoped the meeting would move along. She was overdue for an evening appointment with her bed.

  A hiss sliced through the air, silencing all the dragons. From the outskirts of the crowd, a giant ebony head rose above the crowd. Scyld, a nearly four-hundred-foot-long dragon, stretched his sizable wings, casting deep shadows across the gathering place. “You will behave like the civilized creatures we are, or you will spend a few decades residing with our underground cousins.”

  Shasta didn’t know how you forced dragons to live underground or if wyrm tunnels were even large enough for dragons, bu
t the dragons around her could’ve been statues. Not even the rustle of wings or the whoosh of deep breathing broke the silence.

  A path opened up between Scyld and their group in the center of the field. He tucked his wings against his ebony body and paced toward them. “We have heard the words of Romeo, Byron, Randolph, Natalia, and Tracy. Matilda, it is your turn to speak.”

  All eyes turned to Matilda, including Shasta’s. This was a story she was interested in. As Matilda started her tale, beginning with the group meeting at the dining hall early that morning, Shasta felt her heart slow to its normal pace. She reached up and gently squeezed Cord’s hand, a silent thank-you. He adjusted his hand so instead of resting on her shoulder, his fingers intertwined with hers.

  After glossing over the uneventful portion of the trip, Matilda paused, her eyes distant. “Shasta was on Byron. I don’t know what happened, but they started falling. Then Romeo dropped the rock. I was too far away to do anything. The rock looked like it was going to hit Shasta and Byron. After that, I started having trouble flying. At first it was like there wasn’t any air under me. I could feel the air, but it was thick, and it was difficult to stay aloft. I remember seeing Shasta turn around, and something steadied me. We were all gliding down to land when everything went black. The next thing I knew, my wings were tired, as if I’d flown hard for hours. I was chained in the cave, and scales had been torn from my paws and shoulder. The creature that took me smelled funny—not like a human but not like a dragon. His body shape was wrong too. He mentioned others and how with me he could finally finish his plans. He didn’t say much else.

  “Shortly after Shasta reached me, he came back and attacked her. He made these incredible leaps unlike any human I’ve seen before. Shasta slipped, and I was so sure the creature was going to kill her. That’s when Cord showed up. I don’t know why, but the creature didn’t want to fight both of them. He did something and simply vanished.” Matilda continued, detailing their escape from the cave and glossing over the trip home.