“It takes a lot of strength to endure this pain,” I said. Why had Raolcan read his mind for me?
Your mutual misunderstandings make me squirm. It’s like watching a dragonlet flame his own tail.
Leng’s eyes were glassy, and his mouth opened, but he shut it again quickly, like he was afraid to speak in front of the other Dragon Riders. He was a lot younger than them. Did that factor into things? Grandis Elfar had said something about how ranking within the Dragon Riders depended on a lot of different factors and that it was a strict thing.
“I can tend these wounds myself. They are serious, but not mortal,” Dashiva said decisively. “First, we need to leach out the magical residue and then we can bind the wounds. It will take time and you must stay put until I am done. No resting until then, understand.”
Leng nodded meekly and Dashive crossed to a cabinet at the side of the room. The clinking of glass told me she was sorting through bottles.
“If you must be awake, then we should talk about what happened,” Ephretti said. When I looked at her, I saw her eyes fixed on my hand holding Leng’s. I let go, but his firm grip held it in place.
I looked to him questioningly, but his face was assured and certain. He didn’t plan to drop my hand and he didn’t want me dropping his. Ephretti wasn’t going to like this. I gripped his handclasp firmly. As long as he wanted to hold my hand, he could.
Savette emerged from the door, clothed in a long white dress and my dirty cloak. She held it tightly around herself. Leng’s eyes flared with concern. She didn’t look at us as she made her way back toward the fire. Whatever was wrong with Savette was serious. It wasn’t like her to act this way.
You need to talk to her. Her problem is a very serious one.
When I was done holding Leng’s hand I would help her.
Her wounds are deeper than his.
How could Raolcan know? But he’d never been wrong before.
They are wounds of the mind and spirit.
“We need to talk about what to do with these Initiates,” Ephretti said. “Also, the Castelan guard flooded that whole area. If you had anyone with you, they have been taken into custody. We need to know who knows what, so we can act. And we need to know it right now.”
Lenora! In all the confusion and excitement, I had completely forgotten about her. Was she still alive?
Chapter Four
“My friend Lenora was with me,” I said, feeling my face heat at the shame of not mentioning it before. “She’s Sworn.”
“Sworn! Running around like a pig off a tether!” Ephretti’s language was as rough as her manners. She wasn’t anything like Savette or Lenora.
Are you prejudiced now against common-born people?
My eyes widened at the thought. Was I?
“Don’t give me that goggle-eyed look, girl. None of you should have been here in this city. You should have been with your instructors. No - you should have been at Dragon School! This nonsense of carting you around with us has gone on long enough.”
“It was at the Dominar’s decree,” I said, watching her carefully. She was like a firework with the fuse lit. When would she explode?
“Glory to his reign,” she said by rote, fist to heart and then her features hardened again. “That being as it may. We can’t have you running around anymore. Not now that you’ve seen this branch of the Lightbringers. And this Lenora girl needs to be found and brought under our supervision. What color did you say she was?” She rounded on Leng before I could answer. “And you should never have brought them into this, or let them into our Order without proper authority!”
“She’s Green,” I said, forcing my words out before she moved on to another topic. “And who are the Lightbringers?”
Her mouth fell open and her gaze spun to Leng.
“I didn’t tell her.” Leng looked amused. “You just did.”
“You didn’t recruit these trainees to help you?” Her hands fell from her hips, hanging limply at her sides.
“We came for Savette,” I said, glancing at her. Savette was standing by the fire like she’d been bolted in place, her hands wringing the cloth of her cloak again and again. Could Dashira fix her like she was fixing Leng? Were wounds of the mind more difficult?
Much more difficult. I am doing what I can for her, but it is not enough.
Thank goodness for Raolcan. He always knew better than me what to do.
“We couldn’t just let them take her and do what they wanted to her. Or at least, I couldn’t,” I said. Savette’s sad gaze met mine for a second before flittering away. A ghost of a smile came and went. “I think Lenora did it out of loyalty. She says that the Leedris Castelans and the Estabis Castelans are allies.”
“And you just happened to find a fist of the Dark Covenant when the Lightbringers have been searching for the very same thing for months?” Ephretti did not look convinced. What would she do if I couldn’t convince her? Would she think I was spying on her Order?
“Leng found it.”
“We told Leng where to look.”
I hurried to clarify before she leapt off track again. “We questioned Starie Atrelan. She was with them before they took Savette and she told us where to look.”
Ephretti raised an eyebrow, but she was quiet for a moment before she spoke again. “She’s Green, you say? Then I’d better get her - and quickly.”
“And this one?” Dashira asked so quietly that I barely heard her.
“Someone worked magic on your behalf in that cellar. If they didn’t, you wouldn’t be here,” Ephretti said to me. How did she know that? I felt a stab of fear at her intelligence. She was going to know all my secrets soon. “Was it you?”
I shook my head, keeping my eyes fixed on her so that they wouldn’t accidentally look at Savette.
Ephretti turned back to Dashira. “I’ll get Hubric, too. I don’t see a way around it.”
Dashira pursed her lips, a condemning look on her face.
“He’ll know whether we tell him or not,” Ephretti said. “And this has become too complicated to handle on our own.”
“We could give them both to Tena and Javeen and let them escort the students back to their tutors.” Dashira sounded diffident.
“That option passed the moment we brought them here. They are ours now.” Ephretti’s words were harder than the look on her face. I held the staff tightly, trying to keep my hands from shaking. What were they planning to do with us?
Chapter Five
Dashira worked in silence after Ephretti left, only speaking to command me to help with holding bandages or passing her bottles from the table. When she finished, she looked Leng over with a practiced eye.
“Now, you rest until the leaching is done and then we remove these bandages and rebandage with a poultice. But I’m afraid you’ll have to stay here until Ephretti returns. I need to attend to affairs in the front room, the others are occupied. We can’t afford to have anyone see you. The lavatories are in the room where Savette changed her clothes. You may all make use of them, just stay here.”
It was clear that we were being told not to leave. My fate – whatever it would be – lay in their hands unless I chose to escape, but that would leave us all in the same place we were an hour ago in the snow. I had to hope that these Lightbringers were trustworthy and that they weren’t going to require something from me that I was unwilling to give.
Always the problem. Everyone wants something from you. The question is always whether it is something you can give.
“I’ll be back soon with food. Make yourselves comfortable.” Dashira left abruptly, her bottles still scattered on the table. I gathered them up and put them back in her cupboard. She wasn’t very tidy for someone who was involved in healing others. I’d hoped she’d done better with Leng’s wounds.
When I turned around, Leng was slumped over the table, his face pale.
“Let me help you into a better position,” I said. “Do you want to lie on the rug?”
“Plea
se.”
I was getting a lot of practice at helping sick people up and down while using a crutch – or in this case a staff. Perhaps I could have been White after all.
Over my dead body.
I kept forgetting that the Whites were somehow in opposition to the Purples.
You will see why when you progress further. Let’s just say that they don’t see things the same way we do. There might be a reason that Leng didn’t wait for them before rushing to save Savette. Other colors aren’t as perceptive as Purples. You’ve already seen that.
“Amel?” Leng asked as I helped him get comfortable. “You know it isn’t appropriate for full Dragon Riders and trainees to have any sort of a personal relationship, right?”
I shifted uncomfortably, glancing at Savette. She was peeking out the window, hidden by the curtain. I needed to talk to her, but I should take care of this first.
“Then why are you always trying to protect me when you could really use my help?”
His eyes were half closed and a strong smell, like camphor, radiated from him. Was the medicine working? Was it drawing out the reaction in is flesh?
“You’re like a bright flame in a dark night. Like a red flower in a field of dead grass.”
I watched his eyes close, watched him turn from a tough Dragon Rider to a vulnerable young man. I sighed.
“Stop thinking of me as a flower and start realizing I can be a help to you. The world isn’t going to let me be a delicate, closely guarded thing. I don’t have a choice but to be tougher than I ever wanted to be.”
His breath came out in a gust. I was sure he was asleep.
“Just trust me,” I whispered. I shifted my position to stand and his hand shot out, catching mine. He held it firmly, but gently, his eyes still closed.
“I do trust you,” he mumbled, sleep fogging his words.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” I said.
“Glad,” he repeated. “Glad you arrived.”
As he fell asleep, his hand relaxed its grip and fell to the rug beneath him. I stole a glimpse at Savette. She wasn’t watching. I leaned over him and planted the softest, butterfly kiss on his temple. He was a confusing man. Ephretti claimed to own him. But I thought that a part of him might belong to me, and if it did, I wanted to protect it and make it stronger.
I stood, pulling myself up with the quarterstaff. It was a lot more awkward than a crutch was. Maybe if I practiced with it, it would be easier. I hobbled over to Savette, leaning against the wall beside the window.
“I didn’t want to marry that prince,” she said, still watching out the tiny sliver of space between the curtains.
“I don’t think you’ll have to now.” Should I ask her about what happened? Or would that hurt her more?
“But I didn’t want to be kidnapped, either. I didn’t want them to kill Eeamdor. You know that I am no longer a dragon rider, right?”
And yet she was so much more.
“You practiced magic back there,” I whispered. “Have you done that before?”
“When I was taken I was sure they would kill me. Some of the things they did ... I wish they had.”
I bit my lip. What did you say to that? How did I show her I cared without saying the wrong thing?
“But when I thought they were going to kill you and Leng and I would be alone with them again ...” Her voice was unsteady. She sniffed, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand. “I just couldn’t ...”
I nodded.
“I didn’t know what I was doing. Didn’t care if it killed me. I just reached out and it was there and now it feels like it’s still inside me. It’s like I’m half in another world and I have to stay there to keep it from burning me up.” Her face was haunted, like she truly was somewhere else at the same time as here.
That explains why she is half here.
“Thank you for coming for me.” Her eyes were teary when she finally looked into mine and her trembling hand found my arm. “I didn’t expect ... didn’t know ...” She cleared her throat, sniffling. “I didn’t dare hope that anyone cared enough to come for me. And then both you and Leng...”
She broke down into sobs and I pulled her into a hug. What did you do for a friend who had been through what she had?
You’re doing it. She needs support and a listening ear. Give her that and the ragged edges will start to heal. The other part, though ... that I’m not sure about.
We needed a Magika, but they were evil.
I’m pretty sure they aren’t all evil. What did the Dragon Riders call them? The Dusk Covenant?
Yes. That was it.
I think they are a faction within the Magikas. And there are probably other people involved. After all, that moneylender had to know what was going on in his building, right?
He had a good point. Who were these people? And how many of them were there?
“I wouldn’t have left you in danger, Savette. Not when you trusted me.” She shivered and I released her from the hug. “And I won’t leave you now. There has to be a way to help you with what happened. Someone who knows about all of this. We’ll find them. Does your father-”
She shook her head so suddenly that my words cut off.
Her face was hard with her words, like a wall of flint rising up to protect her. “This is all his fault. He’s the one who agreed to offer me to Baojang as a bride, and if he hadn’t, then the Dusk Covenant wouldn’t have snatched me away to replace me with one of their own or tortured me for information about my family.”
She was shaking so much now that I was afraid she’d break a bone. Hesitantly, I laid a hand on her arm.
“Let’s not talk about that now. You need to rest. Come on. Let’s sit you by the fire and find something for you to drink.”
I helped her to a place close to Leng and brought her water from a jug on the stand. A quick survey found blankets in the chest at the side of the room, and soon I had Savette wrapped in one and resting beside the fire. I laid another carefully over Leng’s sleeping form, stoked the fire and then checked on her. She was already fast asleep.
And you should be, too. Get some rest. You’re only human.
There was humor in Raolcan’s tone as if dragons were immune to the need to sleep. How did you stick your tongue out at someone mentally? I focused on a mental image of myself sticking my tongue out at him and was shocked to see one in my own mind. I jumped, dropping my blanket. Mental laughter rang through our link and I clung to the echo of it as I settled myself in for some rest.
Chapter Six
“Because you shouldn’t have that sort of friendship with a trainee, that’s why. You know as well as I do that you shouldn’t be holding her hand or gazing into her eyes.” The whisper was pitched low, but I cracked an eye open enough to see that it was Dashira. Leng’s back was to me and she was carefully scraping the black substance from wounds in his back and shoulders. He flinched every time the metal tool she was using dug into his back. “You’re a good five years older than her! And she’s in training! It’s inappropriate at best and coercive at worst. You should know better. Besides, it will be awkward for her if anyone else knows. They’ll assume you have given her more information than she should have. It seems like quite the coincidence that she stumbled on the moneylenders only hours after you did.”
“I didn’t tell her. I haven’t seen her since the Ruby Isles and that hurts, you know!”
“Hold still. I’m telling you this for your own good. I like you, Leng. You show promise. You’ve moved up in our ranks to a surprising level for one so young. Keep it up and you’ll pass Ephretti! But not if you go down this path. Pick a woman your age if you want a close friend. Ephretti, for instance, would be delighted to fill that void in your life.”
“Purples are solitary. You know that.”
“And yet here you are.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that you need people more than you know and that you should listen to my advice. We healers study more t
han just the body, Leng.”
“Isn’t it enough that I’ve become a Lightbringer?”
He was one, too! Who were these people?
She laughed sarcastically. “Yes, your allegiance to us means so much when you rarely listen to our orders or advice.”
The door swung open with a crash and I barely suppressed a flinch.
“What’s the meaning of this?” the voice was almost a roar. “I give you two one simple job and you hand me a wasp’s nest!”
I sat up, warily. Savette was still fast asleep beside me, she twitched, but then settled back down. Ephretti closed the door carefully, her eyes wide and her face a mask meant to hide something – fear? Worry? In front of her a wiry man - gnarled and white-haired - stormed into the room and sat on a chair opposite to Leng. Purple scarves wound around his neck and a very wide one was slung around his hips like a loose belt. He was clean-shaven. His hair – and there was so much of it! – was in a Dragon Rider array: loose interspersed with braids. The ornaments tied into it were small bones. I thought they might be snake bones.
He carried such an air of authority, making even Ephretti jump and obey, that I found myself running hands through my own hair and smoothing my dress to look tidier.
“Magic wounds on this one. They tortured you, boy? Did you cave?”
“No.” Leng straightened, but then flinched as Dashira dug at another of his wounds.
“Good boy. And the girl? The Leedris Castelan?”
We all looked at Savette and he grunted. “Ephretti says she isn’t right in the head. Does she know what happened to her?”
“Yes,” Leng said. “She knows. They pushed her for information, too.”
“She cave?”
Leng shrugged. “Not when I was there.”
“High Castelan Lyndon Leedris is due here any day. When he arrives we can turn her over to him. She’s not our problem anymore.”
“No!” I gasped. Savette hadn’t wanted to return to her father. She blamed him for this.
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