“Hey, now!”
“Sorry! Sorry! I just, um . . . I almost fell off.” Will shifted his weight and let go, feeling his face warm.
The other girls giggled.
“Fine, just don’t let it happen again.” Her voice was stern, but he could feel silent laughter shaking Anri’s shoulders.
They trotted back up to the road and started toward the mountain again. The bouncy gait of the cormant made it difficult for Will to keep his seat. He tried squeezing with his knees and gripping the sides of the saddle with his hands, but no matter what he did, he constantly felt on the verge of sliding off one way or the other.
“I’ve heard of Elder Madoc’s cormant stable,” Lexi announced, riding up alongside them.
“Oh, yeah?” Will tried again to get a better grip on the saddle. The birds were really moving now. The wind blew Anri’s hair out behind her and it kept smacking Will in the face.
“Yeah. My father breeds cormants. He bought a few chicks from Elder Madoc a few years back to improve our stock. They have some of the brightest feathers in Silverlake.”
“He’s got a new egg coming soon out of Dancer,” Will said. “They expect it to be a good racer and might have purple feathers too.”
“Oh!” Rin gushed behind them. “I love purple-feathered cormants! But they’re so expensive!”
Will chatted with Rin and Lexi as they ran along the road until the cormants started running too fast to make talking easy. With the fields flying past them and the wind whipping in their hair, it almost felt like they were riding in a convertible car with the top down.
The cormants raced ahead, eating up mile after mile under their powerful legs. Eventually, Will got accustomed to the rhythm of the bouncy gait and didn’t have to work so hard at keeping his seat. Now and then, Trouble poked her head out of Anri’s hair to sniff his face curiously. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to consider him a threat and kept her teeth to herself.
They made it to the foothills as the sky was darkening. The girls decided it was time to stop to make camp for the night. There had been no sign of Tavin, and Will was starting to worry that maybe his enemy had taken another road after all.
“Can’t we keep going?” Will asked. “What if Tavin is just around the next hill?”
“And if he isn’t, he could be just around the next one . . . or the next,” Lexi said, hopping down from her saddle. “You could keep saying that all night. But it’s not safe to ride in the dark. And anyway, Swifty wants his dinner.” She stroked the dark feathers on her cormant's neck.
Will sighed. She was right, of course, but he wished they’d caught up to Tavin by now. He hated to think what that miserable jerk might do to his dragon egg.
He hopped down from Brightfeather’s back, and the moment he landed, a stab of pain shot through his foot. Will cried out and crumpled to the ground, crawling to the nearest flat stone to sit.
“What’s the matter?” Anri asked, coming over to investigate.
“My foot,” Will gasped. “I thought it was healing pretty well, but I guess I ran too hard yesterday.”
He pulled off his shoe. Then, gritting his teeth against the pain, he peeled his sock off. It was wet and sticky with old blood. The scab over the old injury had cracked and peeled away, leaving the cut underneath split open, swollen, and oozing.
“Ouch,” Rin muttered, walking around Anri to look. “How’d that happen?”
“That looks pretty bad,” Anri said.
Will rummaged in his bag to find the medicine the bard had given him. “I didn’t have shoes when we first got here. They went down with our boat. So I was barefoot on the walk to Aldlake and ended up stepping on a sharp rock.”
He smeared some salve over his foot, wincing as it burned in the re-opened wound. With that done, he found some strips of cloth in the first aid kit to bind the cut closed again.
When the pain was more manageable, he helped the girls start a fire and groomed their cormants. With night settling in, they gathered around the orange flickering flames.
“So,” Will said as they settled in to eat their evening meals. “Why do you girls want to be dragon riders?”
Anri looked at him but didn’t answer right away. She continued absently petting Trouble.
Lexi and Rin fidgeted and glanced at one another.
“What? Is that something you’re not supposed to ask?”
“Well,” Rin said, “everyone in Avria assumes being a dragon rider is the best thing that could happen to a kid. Nobody ever asks why you want to be one.”
“But you have a reason, right?” Will asked. “Not just because everyone else wants to be one.”
Rin shrugged. “I honestly just think it would be fun. When my neighbor, Nader, bonded with a red dragon, his parents were so excited. He sometimes flies them to other parts in Avria, places they never would have been able to go on their own. I want to do that for my family.”
Lexi tossed her hair back and poked the fire with a long stick. “I just wanted to get out of my house.”
Rin shot her a shocked look, and Anri lifted her head curiously.
“My parents had so much of my life planned out for me,” Lexi continued. “I had three apprenticeships lined up, but none of them were things I chose. My mother and father arranged them all. If I become a dragon rider, it’ll be something I do for myself and not something my parents did for me.”
“Lexi, I had no idea,” Rin whispered.
Lexi shrugged but didn’t look up from the fire.
Anri tossed a stick into the glowing embers, sending up a storm of little sparks. “Since my father died, my family has been struggling to make enough money to live on. I hoped that becoming a dragon rider would mean that I can help them.” She glanced at Rin, who offered her a small apologetic smile Will didn’t understand. “But now, after what we heard from the master bard in Silverlake, I think becoming a dragon rider might be more important than I thought.”
“They’re rumors, Anri,” Lexi said. “Even the master bard didn’t know whether the reports meant anything.”
Anri didn’t acknowledge Lexi’s comment. She took a drink from her water skin and petted Trouble in silence.
“What did the bard tell you?” Will asked.
She was quiet for a moment longer, and when she answered, she didn’t look up. “She said that people in the northern cities have been seeing swarmers off the coast. More and more of them every year.”
He remembered the conversation they’d had in the banquet hall, when she was trying to tell him about the swarmers and how they might come back. He hadn’t really taken her seriously at the time.
“But that means—”
“The rumors have been going on for years and years,” Lexi said, more to Anri than to Will. “They’re nothing to worry about.”
Anri shrugged and looked away.
They were all quiet for a long time after that, each of them lost in thought as they watched the flames dancing over dry wood.
Chapter Sixteen
“The swarmers can’t come back,” Rin said, her brow tight with worry. “The white dragon fought them all off, and they’ve never swarmed since. If they could come back, they would have by now.”
“I heard about the white dragon,” Will said, perking up. “The bard in Aldlake told me that the white dragon stopped the swarms from coming. Like, some sort of magic spell?” He didn’t think it wise to mention the old song about the egg of fire, and how the bard thought it might be talking about a shiny egg like his. These girls thought he was arrogant enough already. The white dragon seemed to be almost godlike, the way people revered it. If he looked like he was making himself out to be the egg holder of a new white dragon . . . well, who knew what they would think of him then?
“That’s right,” Rin said. “Nobody knows exactly what the white dragon did. Some people even think the white dragon itself might be a myth. Legend says he performed a spell that keeps the swarmers from finding Avria. Some say he made a giant
shield that reaches all the way to Forbidden Island. But nobody’s actually seen a shield out there, as far as I know. So that part is probably a myth.”
Will shifted and re-folded his legs under him. He’d watched enough sci-fi movies to know that a shield doesn’t have to be visible to be real. What if it was some kind of force field? What if magic really existed in this land with fire-breathing dragons? It could be a magical shield.
“Do you think the white dragon was real?” he asked.
Lexi shrugged.
Rin nodded.
“Yes, I do,” Anri said. “Master Bard Kelree told us ancient stories of the white dragon. Those stories are written as though he was real and even had a rider.”
They continued talking until the fire was nothing more than faintly glowing coals. The girls took turns telling horrifying stories of the swarmers, seemingly to frighten Will. It reminded him of going camping with his friends back home, how they used to scare each other by telling ghost stories around the campfire. Those ghost stories seemed laughable compared to these tales of vicious, deadly monsters that used to swarm on Avria, devouring everything in their path. These stories might actually be true.
Their conversation died down along with the flames of their campfire. The night was cool, but not too cold to sleep out on the ground. Eventually the four of them drifted off to the slight crackling of smoldering sticks and the soft scratching sounds of the cormants foraging in the tall grass.
Sickening, throbbing pain woke him up before the sun the next morning. The sky was shifting from black to blue, giving barely enough light to see by.
Will stifled a groan as he sat up stiffly on the ground. The girls were asleep still, curled up on the ground around the charred remains of last night’s campfire.
The cool air was sharp with the scents of wildflowers and dew-covered grass, with a slight hint of smokiness from the cold ashes.
Will pulled his bag open and rummaged inside it until he found the jar of salve. Then he hobbled down to the river, peeled off his bandage, and dipped his aching foot in the rippling ice-cold water with a sigh of relief.
He stayed there for several minutes, letting the cold soothe the screaming pain in his foot while the sky lightened some more.
Across the water, in the grassy plain on the other side, a small herd of long-legged creatures grazed quietly. They were the same kind of creatures as the one Will had seen in the forest by the beach—graceful, velvety-yellow, deer-like animals. Some had pointed horns, like antelope. They swished long, tufted tails that could reach to their shoulders to swat at flies.
He watched them for a while, noticing how they twitched the ends of their tails like cats as they slowly wandered over the ground, nibbling on the grass. The biggest one lifted its head and spotted him. It turned and swiveled its ears forward. Then it stomped a forehoof on the ground, let out a bleat, and the herd dashed over the hills, out of sight.
His foot was feeling a little better, so Will smeared more salve on the old injury, wrapped it in a fresh bandage, and got to work.
He wanted to catch up to Tavin as soon as possible, so he set himself to getting everything ready to go. He gave each cormant a sack of grains and, discovering a feather brush in the supplies, thoroughly groomed the birds while they ate, checking under their feathers for sores.
Swifty had a broken pin feather under his wing, where the saddle strap rubbed him. The stump of the broken feather oozed blood and probably irritated him when the saddle was on. Will covered the bird’s eyes with a blanket to keep him calm, plucked the broken shaft out, and applied pressure to stop the bleeding.
The sun was creeping over the horizon as he finished tightening the saddle straps on Brightfeather when a soft sound caught his attention from behind.
He turned and saw Anri sitting up, eyeing him curiously. Her black hair was messy from sleeping on the ground, and dead grass clung to her tunic and trousers.
“What are you doing?” she asked, rubbing a fist over her eye.
“I’ve fed, groomed, and saddled the cormants so we can get on our way,” he said, waving a hand at the birds.
“All of them? By yourself?” She drew her knee up, which dislodged Trouble from her lap. The creature woke with a start, looked around wildly for a moment, then began grooming its face and ears.
“What is that thing, anyway?” Will asked, limping over to sit next to her.
Anri snorted a laugh. “She’s a lot of things. Mostly a nuisance. A monster. A problem that won’t go away.” As she said these things, she smiled fondly at the little furry creature, so Will didn’t quite believe her. “If you want to know the kind of animal, she’s a kisnit.”
“A kisnit? I’ve never heard of those before.” He held out a hand to Trouble but didn’t pet her. It was an invitation.
“Careful,” Anri warned.
Trouble laid her ears flat and rumbled a tiny growl. Then she crept forward and sniffed his fist. Will opened his fingers to reveal a little piece of dried fruit in his palm.
Trouble twitched her tail happily, hopped forward, and snatched the fruit in her neat little hands, eating it in quick nibbles like a squirrel with a nut.
Will chuckled at the sight.
“Okay,” Lexi grumbled, rolling onto her elbows and pushing herself up on the cold, hard ground. “I’m ready to never sleep outside ever again. Please tell me there’s another village within a day’s ride of here.”
Rin was stirring, too, but didn’t seem ready to talk yet. She pushed herself onto her elbow and blinked in the early morning light, like she wasn’t sure if she was still asleep or not.
“Afraid not,” Anri answered Lexi. “We’ll have to camp on the mountainside tonight. That’ll probably be even colder and less comfortable than down here.”
Rin yawned and stretched out her arms. “But then we’ll be at the hatching ground, the day after tomorrow.” She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, smiling at Anri.
“I really want to catch up to Tavin as soon as possible,” Will reminded them. “You don’t know him like I do. He might do something dangerous or stupid or both just to get to the hatching ground before I do. Or even just to make me miserable. My egg isn’t safe with him. We need to go now.”
“Hold on there, Will,” Lexi said. She started combing the loose grass out of her blonde hair with her fingers. “We still have to get our cormants ready and eat breakfast. We can’t just get up and go.”
“Will already got the cormants ready,” Anri told her.
“What? He did?” She looked around and spotted the cormants, saddled and clawing at the ground eagerly.
“Yes, I did,” he told Lexi. “I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I should do some work since I was awake.” Trouble had curled up against his leg. He gently stroked the downy soft fur on her ears and smiled when she didn’t object.
Lexi said nothing about Will getting the cormants ready, but Rin smiled at him and nodded approval. It didn’t take much longer for everyone to get ready, grab a bite to eat, and mount up.
Will made it to Brightfeather before Anri and climbed on first. Once he was in the saddle, he took hold of the reins and scooted forward. When Anri approached, he grinned and patted the seat behind him.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Anri demanded, digging her fists into her hips.
“I’m giving you space to climb on,” he offered.
She scowled at him.
He gave her his most genuine-looking innocent face. “I don’t mind if you hold on to me to keep your balance. I know it can get pretty bumpy.”
Lexi and Rin sat on their cormants, waiting and watching with barely concealed smirks.
Anri finally waved her hands dismissively. “Whatever. I don’t care. Come on, Trouble.”
The little kisnit bounded over the grass and scurried up to Anri’s shoulder. Anri climbed into the saddle, careful not to grab onto Will as she did.
“Ready?” he asked when she seemed secure in her seat.
“
Yes,” she griped.
He squeezed with his ankles, and Brightfeather immediately lurched to a standing position.
Anri gasped. Will felt her hands grip his shoulders as she tried to keep her balance.
“See?” He laughed. “And I bet you thought I was looking for an excuse to grab onto you yesterday.”
She gave an annoyed little huff but didn’t comment.
The three of them rode up the road, following the river through the foothills. Riding a cormant took a little while to figure out, but the commands and cues seemed to be fairly straightforward. Move the reins this way and that to turn, squeeze with your heels to go, pull on the reins to slow or stop. And, wow, could those birds move when they wanted to!
It didn’t take Anri long to abandon being proper in favor of not falling out of the saddle. At first she grabbed his shoulders or waist only when Brightfeather lurched or jerked while running. After a few close calls, she gave up and kept her arms around his middle the whole time.
Will and Anri rode out ahead, setting the pace for Lexi and Rin. Will urged Brightfeather on at a brisk jog, hoping that around any turn, maybe just around the next bend, they would come across Tavin and Slash. But his enemy never appeared, and by midday, Will was giving up hope. Tavin probably had taken another route, and if he had, Will doubted he would ever find him in time.
“Hey, look at that!” Anri yelled over the wind, taking a hand off Will’s waist to point up the road.
They all looked and saw what she was pointing out. Ahead of them, the road ended at a fork. The wide path to the right had two stone dragon statues standing on either side. Their necks arched and their noses pointed to the ground with their wings slightly unfurled.
The trail that branched off to the left didn’t have any adornment. It was narrow, overgrown with shrubs and thorns, and seemed to lead straight up the mountainside.
Will tugged on the reins to stop Brightfeather right at the fork in the road. Rin and Lexi pulled up behind them a second later.
Secret of the Dragon Egg (Dragon Riders of Avria Book 1) Page 15
