Secret of the Dragon Egg (Dragon Riders of Avria Book 1)

by N. A. Davenport

  “That’s the way Master Bard Aven told me to go,” he said, nodding to the wide road between the dragons. “But does this way lead to the hatching ground, too?” He pointed to the narrow path.

  “Why does it matter?” Anri asked. “It’s so steep and overgrown, it would probably take longer even if it goes straight there.”

  Will nudged Brightfeather a little closer to the trail, narrowing his eyes. Something told him he should go that way, like a nudge in his mind, drawing him in.

  “Come on, Will. I thought you were in a hurry!” Lexi called. She started walking her cormant up the wide road.

  Then Will saw something. Snagged on a thorn partway up the hill was a little strip of dense blue fabric. He remembered seeing Slash outside the village inn, how his legs had been bound in protective wraps exactly that shade of blue.

  He gasped. “Tavin went this way!”

  “He did?” Rin asked.

  “How do you know?” Anri said.

  Will was shuffling through his bag, looking for his map. “Tavin’s cormant was wearing blue leg wraps. A piece of one ripped off on a thorn up there.” He yanked out his map and laid it out in front of him while Brightfeather pranced nervously, sensing Will’s excitement.

  He found the fork in the road on the map and traced the thin line on the left with his finger. It ended at the hatching ground, with much less of the weaving back and forth of the wider road. He could see why Tavin would want to take this way. It looked a lot shorter.

  “I have to go up that way to catch him.”

  “What?” Lexi asked.

  “You can’t!” Rin said.

  “If Tavin went up that way, he was a fool,” Anri said. “Especially if he took a cormant up there. Just look at it! There’s a drop-off right there where we can see it. Imagine how bad it would get at night!”

  Will imagined it. He imagined Tavin riding on Slash, carrying his dragon egg. Then he imagined them tumbling into a ravine in the blackness of night, his egg smashing on the rocks below.

  He sighed. “You’re right. He was a fool to go that way. And it’s even more foolish to take a cormant up there. So I have to go myself. You three can’t come with me.”

  “Are you being serious?” Anri asked. “You can’t climb up there yourself.”

  The other two girls stared in astonishment.

  “Why don’t we try to beat him there?” Rin asked. “If we hurry, maybe we can meet him when he gets there.”

  Will shook his head. “This trail is a lot shorter. I don’t know if we could make it in time. I think catching up to him this way is my best bet.” He threw his leg over Brightfeather’s neck and slid down his side to the ground. He staggered when a stab of pain shot up his foot. “Thank you for helping me get this far. I never would have made it on my own. But I have to do this. It’s the only way to get my egg back.”

  “But your foot . . .” Rin protested. “You’ll never make it up there like this!”

  “I at least have to try,” he said, limping to the trailhead.

  “Wait! Just . . .” Anri took a breath and brought her cormant around to face Will. “Maybe you don’t have to. There’s another way.”

  “What?”

  “Your egg. It probably won’t hatch, right?”

  He tightened his fists and narrowed his eyes, feeling something tighten in his chest, but he didn’t answer.

  “So, it wouldn’t matter if your egg makes it to the hatching ground or not. What you really need is to be on the ground when the other eggs hatch. So why don’t you join our team?”

  “What?” Will’s fists loosened. “Join your team?”

  Anri nodded. “Join our team, and they’ll let you on the hatching grounds. You could still be a dragon rider.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Join their team?

  For a moment, Will saw the possibility playing out before his eyes. He could ride a cormant the whole way so his foot could rest. They would travel on the safe road together, not worrying about falling to their doom on the dangerous narrow path. They would arrive early enough to join in on the festivities leading up to Hatching Day. He’d be on a team with a normal-looking egg and wouldn’t have to deal with the looks and speculation of people when they saw how strange his egg was.

  But that would mean leaving his egg to its fate with Tavin. Also, he wasn’t on the girls’ team when they found their egg, so he’d be lying about that. He couldn’t do either of those things.

  “I have to get my egg back. I found it. It’s mine to protect. Mine to bring to the hatching ground.” He set his jaw and gazed up the steep, narrow trail toward the mountain. How far had Tavin gone already? How would Will ever catch up to him?

  A shuffling sound from behind made him turn around. Anri had swung her leg over her saddle and was sliding to the ground.

  “You can’t go up that way alone,” Anri said fiercely.

  “Too bad. That’s what I’m doing.” He turned and started climbing the hill.

  “If something happened, no one would be there to help you.”

  He kept climbing, crouching down to use his hands over the steep rocks and roots jutting out of the trail. “I’m not joining your team,” he said. “That would be like lying. I never helped you find your egg. I have to show up with my egg or not at all.”

  Anri was quiet for a moment. Will looked over his shoulder at her and saw that she was biting her lower lip, looking torn.

  “Just let him go, Anri,” Lexi said.

  “I’ll meet you at the hatching ground after I get my egg back,” Will said.

  Anri narrowed her eyes at him. She waved her hands in exasperation, then she stomped back to her cormant. “Come on, Trouble!”

  The kisnit leaped from the saddle and gracefully landed on Anri’s shoulder.

  Anri unclipped her bag, drew out her dragon egg, and carried it over to Lexi. “Can you bring this to the hatching ground?”

  “Anri! What are you doing?” Lexi gasped.

  “Yes, Anri. What are you doing?” Will asked, watching as Lexi took the creamy green dragon egg and carefully tucked it into her own bag.

  “I’m coming with you!” Anri snapped, handing Brightfeather’s reins to Rin. She threw her bag over her shoulder and stomped toward him.

  “But—”

  “Don’t you dare try to stop me! I’m not happy about this, off-lander boy!”

  He held his hands up defensively and backed away as she scrambled past him on the trail.

  “Anri!” Rin called. “What about—”

  “We’ll meet you at the hatching ground once we get his stinging egg back, okay?”

  Will thought about arguing with her, of making her stay with her friends and take the safe way, but he had to admit that he really could use her help.

  The other two girls shot confused and frightened looks at each other, but they didn’t argue anymore.

  “Be safe, Anri!” Rin waved farewell. Then they turned their cormants back to the road between the dragon statues and started riding up the hill.

  “Are you coming or not?” Anri called down to him.

  Will took a deep breath, wondering if her help would even be worth it if she was just going to gripe at him the whole time. “Yes, I’m coming.”

  The narrow dirt path climbed the mountainside as steeply as a staircase. Slick green moss clung to sharp rocks protruding from the dirt, making their feet and hands slip precariously. The trail soon wound around a ridge, so they only had a few feet from the wall on one side and a deadly drop-off on the other.

  Will gasped as his foot slipped and he had to catch himself against the wall to keep from falling to certain doom. “Could a cormant even come this way?” he asked. His voice cracked with fear. He couldn’t imagine trying to convince Slash to walk up such a treacherous trail.

  “Probably, but I don’t think they would like it,” Anri said. “This trail is stinging dangerous and cormants don’t like falling to their deaths.”

  Will g
ingerly placed his aching foot onto a level patch of rock. “Hopefully Tavin is taking it slow so that doesn’t happen.” He stifled a groan of pain as he pushed himself over another large stone.

  “But if we go too slow, we’ll never make it to the hatching ground on time,” Anri growled. “This is my last year to have a chance at being a dragon rider. Did you know that part?” She leveled a severe gaze at him. “Once you’re over fifteen, you can’t stand on the grounds anymore. And Hatching Day only comes once every four years.”

  Will frowned thoughtfully. “Then it’s my last chance, too.” He was surprised at how much the thought bothered him. He picked up his pace and soon was climbing the hill directly behind Anri.

  They scrambled over rocks and roots and narrow muddy patches of trail, climbing up the side of the mountain together. As they climbed, the air grew colder until Will’s fingers stung and his throat and lungs burned.

  As they were rounding a corner over a steep drop-off, Anri suddenly stopped.

  “Oh, great. That’s just great!”

  Whatever she was talking about, Will was certain it wasn’t great. “What’s wrong?”

  “Look at this.”

  He climbed up behind her and peered over her shoulder.

  The narrow trail in front of them came to the base of a gigantic tree with a mass of thick, twining roots. Underneath the roots, where the trail should be, the ground was missing. One side of the tree grew into the near-vertical mountainside. The other grew into open air in front of them. On the far side of the tree, the trail resumed, climbing uphill and winding around the corner. To get to it, they would have to go over a precarious net of twisting slippery wood.

  “I guess we’ll have to climb over those roots,” Will murmured.

  Anri glanced back at him like she thought he was crazy. Then she sighed, shook her head in resignation, and started forward again. As she braced herself against the trunk and carefully placed her feet on the smooth roots, Trouble hopped down from her shoulder and scurried up and down the trunk, weaving through the tangled roots like it was all a fun game.

  “She sure picked a fine time to start playing games,” Will grumbled. Trouble slinked through the roots in front of him and poked her head out right at the spot where he was trying to step.

  “Like I told you. She’s nothing but trouble.” Anri took a few careful steps forward and hopped to level ground again. “Come on, Trouble! Get out of his way. Come here!”

  The kisnit’s ears perked up and her head darted to the side at the sound of her name.

  “So that’s how she got her name. I see it all now.” Will chuckled.

  Trouble scampered out of the spot in the roots and back up the tree trunk. Will placed his foot in the empty spot and took another step forward.

  Trouble suddenly jumped from the tree and landed on his shirt, sinking her tiny claws in.

  “Trouble! No!” Anri yelled.

  “Ack! Ow! It’s okay! I’m okay!” he called as the kisnit scratched and scurried down his back. “Wow, her claws are sharp!”

  Trouble used his back as a launchpad to leap the last distance to the trail and Anri. Will braced himself against the stinging pain of her sharp claws, but then his foot slipped.

  His heart jumped into his throat. He tried to balance himself with his injured foot, but he flinched in pain when his weight landed on it.

  “Will!”

  He heard Anri yell his name, but he didn’t have time to answer. With a fresh stab of pain, his foot broke through a gap in the tangled wood and he felt himself falling. He flailed his arms, but there was nothing to grab onto. His body twisted sideways as his leg dropped through the gap between the splayed roots. He landed with a jerk, caught among the twisted wood.

  “Will! Here! Take my hand!”

  Panting and clinging to the knobby wood, Will looked up and saw Anri close beside him, balancing on the roots, one hand clutching a low branch and the other stretched out to him.

  He reached out and grasped her hand. Anri pulled. Will heaved himself up, lifting his leg back through the hole in the roots. When his foot made it to the gap, his shoe got caught.

  “Wait. Hold on. I’m stuck,” he gasped.

  Anri kept tugging on his arm. “Is that so? I didn’t notice!” she growled sarcastically through clenched teeth. “Just yank your foot out of there!”

  He tried yanking, but his ankle was in the wrong position to fit between the knobby roots. He reached back with his free hand to grab it. “Just . . . I need to twist my—”

  Anri gasped, shrieked, and suddenly let go of Will’s hand.

  He turned back just in time to see her land on the slippery tree roots next to him and slide down to the edge.

  “Anri! Hold on!” He flung himself back and grabbed her arm just in time to stop her from falling over the ridge. Her legs dangled over the edge of the root mass, hundreds of feet above the distant ground below them.

  “Hold on, Anri,” Will said, his voice trembling.

  Anri desperately scrambled to get a grip and pull herself up.

  “You can do it. Just hold on. I won’t let go.”

  Anri said nothing. Her wide, terrified eyes had lost all traces of her usual haughty bitterness as she stared at him, silently begging for help.

  Trouble scurried through the surrounding roots, lashing her striped tail and chirping in distress.

  Will stretched his other arm out, groaning as the movement twisted his caught leg painfully, and latched onto Anri’s elbow.

  He pulled with all his might. Anri gasped in pain, but she slowly inched over the edge and managed to grab onto one of the roots.

  Will reached down farther and grabbed a fistful of her tunic. This wasn’t as effective, since the fabric slid around her body as he pulled. He slowly lifted her another inch over the edge until she finally hooked her knee over a root.

  “All right, I’m up,” she panted, bringing her other leg over the edge.

  They paused, gasping and shaking from exertion. Then, wordlessly, Will reached down and twisted his caught foot through the gap in the roots. His ankle ached and his skin was scratched and bleeding in several places. His muscles felt wobbly.

  Will braced himself against the tree and pushed himself up. “Here, let me help you.” He reached out and took Anri’s arm again, supporting her as she wobbled to her feet.

  Once they were both on solid ground again, they collapsed on the trail, shaken and dazed. Trouble scampered into Anri’s lap, licking her arms and rumbling tiny worried growls.

  Anri was trembling all over. She didn’t react when Trouble scurried to her shoulder and snuffled in her ear. She stared hollowly at the steep drop-off below them.

  “You know what?” Will said. “You were right.”

  Anri gave an airy half-chuckle. “I usually am. What was I right about this time?”

  “That kisnit is nothing but trouble.” He shot her a half-smile to take the sting out of his words.

  Anri laughed as she rubbed Trouble’s head. “She really is!”

  The treacherous trail wound farther up the mountainside. Anri and Will trudged on, taking only brief breaks for water or to grab quick bites to eat.

  As they climbed ever higher, the air grew icy and thin. A cloud drifted in, enveloping them in a thick chilly mist that blocked out sunlight and leeched the warmth from their bodies. Will’s hands and feet went numb, which made climbing up the trail more hazardous. They wrapped themselves in their wool traveling cloaks to keep the cold out, but the loose, draping fabric made climbing more awkward and slowed them down.

  The mist also made it nearly impossible to see where they were going. It sometimes felt like they were climbing on a small island drifting through the sky.

  Eventually, with the light fading and the air numbing their hands and feet, they discovered a patch of level ground just off the trail.

  “We should stop here for the night,” Anri said. “Hopefully this mist will clear by morning so we can see where we�
�re going.”

  Will pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders and shivered, looking around at the bushes and ferns and tall tree trunks with branches so high up he couldn’t see them through the mist. “There isn’t any firewood here.”

  Anri shook her head and sat with her back against the rocky cliffside. “It wouldn’t be safe to wander around looking for any. We could walk right over the edge and fall to our deaths before we know it.” She pulled her bag open and started rummaging inside. Trouble bounded over and slinked into the bag, curling up and looking snug and warm inside.

  Will hesitated. He wanted to go as far as they could while they still had a chance to catch Tavin. Plus, this patch of level ground wasn’t exactly sheltered. Shouldn’t they keep going to find a better place to camp for the night?

  The sunlight was growing dim. He thought of their close call on the tree roots earlier and decided it would be better to listen to Anri and play it safe.

  He hobbled over to the wall and sat next to her as she pulled out her wool blanket and wrapped it around herself.

  “Let me see your foot,” she said.

  “Huh?”

  “Your foot. The one you keep limping on? The one that looks like someone tried to chop it in half?”

  Will eyed her uncertainly but started unlacing his shoe anyway. “I don’t know why you’d want to see it,” he mumbled, yanking his shoe off. “It’s not exactly pretty or anything.”

  “My mother is a healer’s assistant. I may not have her training, but I have learned a few things from her that might help.” She took Will’s foot in her hands and pulled off his sock.

  Will winced, partly because it hurt and partly because he worried that his foot might smell like old cheese after wearing the same sweaty socks several days in a row.

  Anri kept a straight face, though, and carefully unwrapped the bandages. The icy wind bit into his toes, but it didn’t numb his foot enough to keep it from hurting when she arched it back to examine the wound.

  He sucked in a sharp breath.

  Anri frowned. “Can I see your salve jar?”

  He reached into his bag and handed it to her. Then he pulled his blanket out and wrapped it around himself against the bone-chilling cold.