Will squeezed his eyelids together, trying to shut out the disturbance. It had to be a dream. Huddled under his wool blanket, he almost felt warm now, and he didn’t want to wake up and feel the cold. He never wanted to feel cold again in his life.
“So this is where you ended up,” a familiar voice said.
Will’s eyes snapped open. He rolled over and the first thing he saw was a huge blue dragon with halfway furled wings staring down at him through the gap behind the tree’s roots. Then he noticed the silhouette of a young man standing below him. It was Perrin and Boreas, the rider and blue dragon who he’d met at the beginning of his journey.
“We saw the smoke from your fire,” Perrin said. “A lot of us have been looking for you. You hid yourself well in this little cave.” He nodded thoughtfully as he looked around at Will’s makeshift camp. Then he pulled out a thick ceramic flask and offered it to Will. “Your lips are blue. Have some kaffa. Are you feeling well? Have you been injured?”
Will sat up to take the drink, pulling the blanket around his shoulders. His clothes were stiff, dirty, and wrinkled around his body, but at least they were dry now. He gulped down the sweet hot kaffa, relishing how it warmed him from within.
“Thanks,” he said with a grin. He wiped a trickle of kaffa from his lips. “I hurt my ribs when I fell, and I have an old injury on my foot that’s been bothering me, but I think I’ll be fine.” He looked between the dragon and rider with his grin spreading wider. He was saved! Perrin and Boreas had come to help him. He would make it to the hatching ground after all!
“May I look?” Perrin asked.
Will shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”
Perrin kneeled down to check his injuries while Will gulped down a few more mouthfuls of kaffa. The dragon rider frowned when he examined the deep purple bruises over Will’s ribs and the swollen, barely closed slash on the bottom of his foot.
“It looks like you might have a broken rib or two. And that cut on your foot should have had stitches.” He frowned and shook his head. “I have some fresh salve and bandages with me, but you should still see a healer.” He opened a bag on his belt and drew out a small jar of salve.
Will closed the flask of kaffa and offered it back with a grateful smile. “Is there a healer at the hatching ground?”
The way Perrin looked at him made Will’s heart sink.
“What? Did the eggs already hatch?”
Perrin sighed before opening his jar of salve and applying a thick layer to Will’s foot. Will barely noticed the burning pain of the medicine.
“No,” Perrin said, wrapping a fresh bandage over the old injury. “The hour of hatching isn’t until this evening. But, I already told you when we first met, dragons can’t carry egg holders to the hatching ground. It’s against Avria law.”
“So . . . what are you saying? You’re going to leave me here?”
Perrin ran a hand over his short hair. “No. But we can take you to a city to get the medical attention you need.”
Will threw his cloak over his shoulders, rolled up his blanket, and stuffed it into his bag, fuming. It was so unfair! Will would have made it to the hatching ground on time if Tavin hadn’t cheated and stolen his egg. But apparently, even though the eggs hadn’t hatched yet, Perrin thought it was all over for him now.
Will lifted the dragon egg, feeling the weight and warmth of it while he considered his options.
“Maybe I can still make it.”
Perrin stuffed the leftover bandages and salve jar back in his bag and stood over him. “Don’t be stubborn. We won’t take you to the hatching ground.”
“I’m not asking for you to fly us there!” Will said.
Behind Perrin, Boreas’ ears snapped forward, and he fixed Will in his yellow stare.
“The journey is a test, isn’t it?” Will asked, lifting his chin. “It wouldn’t be right if you took me there. I wouldn’t be fit to be a dragon rider if I cheated. I have to bring the egg there myself.” He tucked his egg in his bag and pulled on his socks and shoes. “If I climb back the way I came, maybe I can make it back to the trail. I can find my way from there.”
The blue dragon gave a soft grunt. Will looked and saw that Boreas was gazing at Perrin. Perrin watched his dragon, rubbing the back of his neck while an uncertain grimace pulled at his mouth.
“That doesn’t change the fact that it’s against the rules,” Perrin said with a frown, still looking into his dragon’s eyes.
The dragon rumbled and snorted. Twin streams of crystalline frost blasted from his nose when he did.
Were Perrin and Boreas . . . talking to each other somehow?
Perrin sighed and nodded, patting Boreas on the nose. “You make a good point, my friend.”
“What? What’s going on?” Will looked from dragon to rider and back again.
Perrin sighed. “We will not fly you to the hatching ground. That’s against the rules and, as you pointed out, if you accepted a ride from us it would show that you are unfit to be a dragon rider.”
“Yeah . . .”
“But, Boreas makes a good point, too. If we take you and your egg to one of the cities before hatching hour, we would move you away from your destination. This would interfere with your journey, which is also against the rules, so we can’t do that either.” He gazed up at the cliff and tapped a finger against his chin.
Will pulled his bag onto his shoulders and tightened the straps, waiting to hear what the dragon rider would say.
Perrin turned to Will and slapped a hand against his thigh. “I got it! Hop on, we’ll give you a ride.”
Chapter Twenty
“You’ll give me a ride? On your dragon? But, I thought you wouldn’t take me to the hatching ground?” Will could hardly believe what he was hearing. Looking at the massive shoulders and wing muscles of the blue dragon, he wasn’t sure whether he was thrilled or terrified at the idea.
“We won’t take you to the hatching ground. We won’t even take you any closer than you are right now. Boreas wants to wing you about a little, that’s all, to get the wind in your face. We’ll put you down somewhere just as far from the hatching ground as you are right now. You fell a long way from the trail, so you’ll still have a long way to go, you understand. ” He eyed Will shrewdly.
Will gulped down his fear and grinned at Perrin. “I get it. Yeah. That sounds fair.”
Perrin clapped him on the shoulder. “So let’s get to the skies. The day isn’t getting any younger.”
Scarcely able to contain his giddiness, Will followed Perrin to the blue dragon’s side. Perrin showed him how to use Boreas’ foreleg to climb up to his neck. The dragon’s skin felt cold to the touch—not like he was frozen, more like the temperature of a can of soda fresh out of a cooler. Will chuckled as the comparison sprang to his mind.
In front of Will, Boreas turned his head around on his sinuous neck to watch as Perrin climbed up and helped clip Will’s bag to the saddle straps. “Is the egg going to be okay there?” Will asked, seeing how it was dangling against the dragon’s cold hide.
“Of course. Boreas will be very careful. He’d never do anything to harm a dragon egg.” Perrin patted his dragon’s great neck, and Will felt Boreas rumble happily under them.
They took a few minutes to fasten safety straps to their belts, tighten them, and adjust them. All this preparation was making anticipation build up in Will’s chest. He felt his heart racing and his muscles tensing. It was like he was getting ready to ride a roller coaster for the first time, those minutes after sitting in the seat but before everyone else was ready, when all he could do was think about the wild ride he was about to experience and whether it might be too scary to be worth it.
Finally, Perrin patted his dragon’s neck again. “I think we’re ready, my friend.”
The dragon rose and shook out his wings.
Will felt unsteady in the thin leather saddle and braced himself against the muscular dragon neck in front of him. Behind him, Perrin sat straight up, not hol
ding onto anything. Will glanced back and the dragon rider grinned at him, completely relaxed.
“Ground takeoffs can be bumpy,” he warned. “Keep holding on until we’re in the air.”
Will gripped the thick leather saddle handles.
Boreas turned and walked to the edge of the river, getting out from under the overhead branches. Will felt him push up with his front legs. The dragon’s body tilted back, his neck nearly smacking Will in the face.
Vast blue wings stretched out overhead. Then, Boreas pushed off the ground with a powerful kick of his hind legs, bringing his wings down at the same time. The ground dropped away, and Will felt like his stomach had dropped with it.
Will didn’t have time to do anything more than gasp in alarm before Boreas brought his wings down again, flinging them skyward.
Again and again, the dragon swept its great wings through the air, pushing them higher and higher over the river and above the trees, high enough that Will could see the rise and fall of the hills below them, high enough that the hills looked like a lawn and the trees like so many blades of grass. Boreas slowed his wing beats, getting into a steady, smooth rhythm, and made his way toward the sunny side of the nearest slope.
The crisp wind numbed Will’s face, whipped through his hair, and roared in his ears. He was grinning so broadly his cheeks hurt, but he couldn’t stop. He wanted to shout and pump his fist in the air in delight, but he wasn’t sure whether that would be a bad idea.
Then, as they were passing to the sunny side of the hill, Boreas stretched his wings out steadily, waiting.
A sudden current of air, like a fountain surging from the ground, pushed them up from below. Boreas caught the air in his wings like a kite, and they soared higher.
With the wind whipping past his nose and mouth, Will could scarcely breathe. Even if he could, the sight of Avria from so high up would have taken his breath away.
The mountain he’d been next to was one of many peaks, stretching out before them. The river was a tiny silver glint twisting between the trees.
Will turned to look back toward the village he’d visited, Madoc’s estate, and the coast where he’d washed ashore, but he couldn’t see anything beyond the long stretch of foothills.
Boreas tipped his wings, and they arced downward as they glided back toward the mountain. Boreas smoothly and swiftly curved around a peak, passing spires of rock, trees, waterfalls, and sheer drop-offs. When they made it around to the other side, Will noticed that the mountainside ahead seemed to have a straight rock-colored line running horizontally along it. As they glided closer, he saw dark dots sitting on the line. A little closer still, and he recognized that the line was a road, and the dots were people, cormants, carts, and even a few teams of shufflos pulling heavy wagons.
Boreas passed over the road once, letting his wings blast wind on the travelers. They seemed to understand that he intended to land, because everyone scrambled to give the dragon room.
On his second approach, the blue dragon swooped up from below, folded his wings in at the right moment, and touched down gently on the edge of the road.
The crowd stood around them at a respectful distance. Most of them stared openly at the blue dragon, but the people with cormants hurried their squawking, panicking birds away as quickly as they could.
Boreas paced away from the edge of the cliff and crouched down.
“Wow,” Will breathed.
Behind him, Perrin chuckled as he unfastened Will’s belt from the safety straps.
“Really, that was so awesome!” Will said, sliding down the dragon’s neck to the ground. He turned and beamed back up at the dragon rider.
“Yes, I know,” Perrin said with a fond smile at his dragon. He handed Will his bag with a solemn look. “Listen, if you want to make it to the hatching ground in time, you’ll need to hurry. I promised we wouldn’t take you any closer than you already were. You have a long way to travel still.”
Will nodded enthusiastically and grinned. “Thank you both. I’d better get going or we might be late.”
Perrin smiled. Then he adjusted his belt straps while Boreas crouched at the edge of the road. “I hope to see you there! Clear skies!” He gave Will a salute, then Boreas leaped off the road and soared out over the trees below them.
The other travelers on the road started on their way again. Several of the adults eyed Will curiously. One little girl gushed, “I wish I could ride a dragon, Papa! Will I get to ride on a dragon someday?”
Will didn’t wait to hear what her father answered. He remembered what Perrin had told him. The eggs would hatch today, sometime this evening. If Will didn’t make it in time, he’d never get another chance to be a dragon rider. He’d be too old on the next Hatching Day. He had to hurry!
He turned and raced up the hill, weaving through the scattered people and past cormant carts and teams of shufflos pulling wagons.
He couldn’t run the entire way—the air was too thin and his ribs stabbed with pain every time he took a deep breath—but when he couldn’t run, he walked as swiftly as he could until he got his strength back and started running again.
As he climbed higher up the mountain, he noticed that hardly anything was growing on the sides of the road anymore, only a few scattered, scraggly bushes, thorns, and prickly dead-looking clumps of grass.
As he went farther, even these remnants of vegetation disappeared so that all there was to see on the sides of the road were rocks and dirt.
The air didn’t feel as cold as it had on the narrow trail, either. At first, Will thought he was warm because he was working so hard, but then he started sweating and fanning out his shirt to cool down during his short walking periods.
Finally, Will felt the need to rest against the wall to catch his breath, and it surprised him to find that the rock was warm. He pressed his hand to the wall curiously. It felt like stone that had been baking in the scorching summer sun, even though it was standing in the shade.
He continued on, not bothering to ask anyone about the hot rocks even though he was terribly curious.
As the road wound around the hills, the crowd of people, carts, and cormants grew denser. The sun had long ago drifted behind a spur of the mountain, so Will wasn’t sure how close evening was yet. What time was it when Perrin had found him on the riverbank? How long had he been racing up the road already? How far did he still have to go?
Will paused once to gulp some water, soothing his dry throat and empty stomach. The air was now so warm it felt like summer again.
“Come on, Lessie. We have to hurry if we’re going to get the stall set up in time for the new dragon riders. The eggs should hatch any time now.”
Will turned to see a man coaxing his daughter back onto a cart before he climbed into the driver’s seat and urged his cormant forward.
The eggs would hatch any time now?
Even as he felt his heart sink, Will pushed himself harder. Would he make it? He had to!
An orange tinge crept into the sky. More and more people were talking about joining the party or setting up stalls to sell food or dancing or music. Children shouted excitedly about getting to see baby dragons. Most of them were in a hurry to get there, saying there wasn’t much time. The eggs would hatch soon.
Will pushed himself harder than he thought possible. The stitch in his side felt like it would rip him in half. Pain shot through his foot with every step. The heat from the rocks was growing unbearable. Sweat dripped from his forehead and stung his eyes. He could feel it—something in his gut was telling him that the time was coming, any moment now, and he had to hurry!
He rounded a final bend, and the entrance to the hatching ground finally came into view.
At least he thought that’s what it was. Two massive stone dragon statues bordered the road, like guards at a gate, elegant, proud, and welcoming all at the same time.
The crowd of travelers was so thick now it was hard to move without bumping into someone. Will tugged on a stranger’s sleeve.
“Excuse me, is this the hatching ground?”
The woman turned to him. “This is the entrance to Fire Mountain Dragonhold. The hatching ground is inside.” She gestured between the stone dragons.
“Thanks!” Will raced ahead, pushing his way past people with breathless apologies.
He sort of noticed the swarm of red dragons soaring in the air above, mingled here and there with the occasional yellow or green or blue.
Stalls of food were stationed all over the place. In one, a man lifted a lid from an enormous pot and a cloud of fragrant steam escaped. At another, a huge roast turned on a spit, sizzling and dripping over a bed of coals. Another had an array of small cakes topped with fruits and jams, glistening with sugar.
Will looked all around, but couldn’t see anything that looked like a hatching ground.
“I’m sure my nephew will find a hatchling to bond with. We’ve had many dragon riders in our family, and the boy is clever. I only wish I had a ticket to be in there so I could watch.”
Will lurched toward the man, grabbing his arm. “Where? Where is the hatching ground? Please, I have to get there!”
“Oh, do you have a ticket? You’d better hurry, boy. Not much time left now.” He pointed to the far side of the wide space filled with people and food stalls. “You’d better run or you’ll miss it.”
Just then, four horns blared out a series of notes in deep harmony.
“Ah, see? They’re beginning to hatch now!” the man said, beaming a smile at his friends.
Will let out a despairing wail and raced through the crowd in the direction the man had pointed. He pushed people out of his way, too breathless to bother apologizing anymore. When he made it to a large, arched entrance that led into the rocky mountainside, he threw himself at the people standing in his way.
“Whoa, hold on there, lad!” one of them said, holding him back. “You can’t go in there. Only egg holders and people with tickets are allowed in.”
“But . . . but I’m . . . I have . . .” Will gasped and swallowed, trying to get the words out while his lungs fought him for breath.
Secret of the Dragon Egg (Dragon Riders of Avria Book 1) Page 19
